The Power of the Crystalline Heart
by TakaraDaiya
Summary: Sesshomaru is somehow deceived by a human woman, and he makes the mistake of banishing her. 200 years later, they reunite, but much has changed since then, and they face a new and greater foe than Naraku. [SessXOC] chapt 9 up
1. The Beginning

**Note: **There will be a PS at the bottom saying if I've fixed the chapter and made it better than before. Starting now.

**Summary:** Sesshomaru is somehow deceived by a human woman, and he makes a mistake and banishes her. 200 years later, they reunite, but much has changed since then. Takes place 200 years before, and continues where the Anime left off SessxOC

**A/N:** Okay, this is my first fic. I hope that statement doesn't discourage anyone from reading Oo; (gah! Newb!). I just wanna see how many people like my ideas. I feel bad though because I know that I wont be able to update a lot, and I know how annoying it is to have a story on your Alerts list that hasn't been updated for over a couple months, but you just know an update will appear someday so you keep checking, and when there is an update you get all excited and you check it out, but it turns out to be a stupid author's note, and you got your hopes up for nothing! That was quite the run-on sentence... but c'mon, you can't say that hasn't happened to you! My whole day is often taken up by school, work, family members on the compy, and the fact that sleep is essential to me, as well as my social life. And just so you know, I definitely WILL be finishing this story, it just might take a while... so, if you like my ideas, then stick me on your alert list, and check for updates every week or month... or year...(pretend I didn't say that Oo; )

Anyways... I think you should know why I'm writing this. Because I can. And, because I've been obsessing over Inuyasha for a while now, and decided it was about time to do something about it. I also want to let you guys know that there will be no SESSHOMARU WITH A TAIL in this fan fic, because SESS DOESN'T HAVE A TAIL. I just had to let that out... and also, there will be NO Kikyo bashing. I am a KIKYO WORSHIPER, so if you hate Kikyo, then too bad. There's not much that has to do with her anyways, so if you're that obsessive about Kikyo being an evil lady, you might be able to handle this.

I use two languages in my dialogues, English and Japanese. English will be in Italics in quotations. Italics w/o quotations are thoughts. The English italics thing starts when Sess meets up with the main characters. Just so you know.

Rated 'T' for language, some mature content, and mild sex. No lemons... I can't write those Oo;. Maybe sometime I'll try, you'll have to wait and see.

Is there anything else? I don't think so... oh, I know... _Sesshomaru is the roxorz!_

**Disclaimer: **Inuyasha does not belong to me... there, I said it.

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

_700 years in the past_

Sparkles of light from the mid-day sun flitting through the trees dotted his silver waving hair. Sesshomaru was walking through one of Japan's many forests when he thought of his father, Inu no Taisho. _It has only been six years since your death, and already I am burdened with the pitiful request you made._ Sesshomaru stopped and turned slightly to look over his shoulder and bark an order at the child behind him.

"Stop dawdling..." the child, who was intently watching a spider eat a fly, instantly ran to Sesshomaru's side. "Unless you wish to be left behind, I will not mind."

The child gulped and sputtered an excuse. "Sorry, it's just that I was never this far away from the village before, and I just find everything so intere-"

"That is not my problem." Sesshomaru abruptly continued walking. He always had next to no tolerance for the boy. "You are only going to stay with this Sesshomaru until you can look after yourself. So in the meantime... Keep your mouth shut."

The child sighed in defeat, and sadly continued walking. When Sesshomaru saved him from his burning home, he had looked up to him like a saint. Sesshomaru was the only person he had left, and he certainly was not acting like his first impression.

* * *

_Present day_

Lavender and Lily Daiya, sixteen-year-old, identical-yet-un-identical twin Canadians. They looked exactly the same, except for their eyes and hair. Lavender's jet-black hair and dark brown eyes, was far off from Lily's platinum blond hair and pale hazel eyes. The rest of them were the same, from their medium length hair, to the alignment of their teeth (granted, Lily's teeth were whiter because she didn't drink as much coffee or eat as much chocolate as Lavender.)

Their great-great-great-great-etcetera grandparents were a European witch, and a Japanese sorcerer. A prophecy said that in 700 years, the twins' generation of descendants would be the ones to truly defeat Hiro in Cassandra's place, the two ancestors. Hiro had betrayed Cassandra, and they fought each other until they no longer could. Cassandra could not take the fight any longer, so she had sealed Hiro in the star, Sirius to keep him far enough away that he could not harm Earth, yet as visible as possible to the descendants. At the same time, Hiro used the same enchantment to seal Cassandra in the Sun. They left Earth with a daughter to carry on the Daiya lineage.

The twins were left with a chest full of spell books and Cassandra's diary. They would not have known that information if they had not decided to poke around in other people's business.

Lavender does not have a very strong cogitative process. You need one if you wish to use simple spells. Instead, she learnt of a way to channel her inherited mana into her physical being. Thus, making her at least twice as strong, and as fast, as any normal human. Lily on the other hand excels in mind-power, and can perform many spells without breaking a sweat (however, she could suffer from slight headaches...).

Lavender and Lily (unlike normal twins), both shared the same body during their mother's pregnancy. They were at five months when _it_ happened. Their bodies split into two. Some would see it as splitting a whole into two pieces. They learned that information in some papers mentioning them in small articles about 'miracle babies'. They would not have needed to read the papers, but both parents died when the twins were still newborns, so they were their only source of information. Due to that fact, and their magical abilities, they can share thoughts and feelings. Neither can send decent thoughts to each other, they're usually short, primitive sentences. Lavender has the hardest time because she cannot use magic very well, her thoughts are often one worded. She leaves the telepathy to her twin instead. Of course, no one knows about these powers of theirs. who knew what would happen to them.

Lily decided, during the summer before their 12th year of school, it was time to search for their great-great-great-great-etcetera-grandparents lost treasures. She had read about these 'treasures' in Cassandra's Diary. Special amulets meant to enhance their skills. So, Lavender and Lily headed out to Japan, where the manor that is said to hold the treasures, according to the diary, resides.

* * *

"The old geezer that owns the museum said the manor caved in 700 years ago, and nothing of value was ever dug up." Lavender informed her sister through a wad of bubble gum. Her black tank top and grey cargo pants were stained from the chilli-dog toppings that slopped all over her shirt. 

Lily looked up from her spell book, and sighed. "Great, now we'll have to go get them ourselves..." Lily closed her text-book sized spell book, then stood up and dusted off her pink, knee-high skirt, and flattened down her white spaghetti strap shirt (while glaring at Lavender's stains as though they were a deadly disease daring to invade her clothes). They were well known for their attire. They always had the same set of clothes, but with different colours. Lavender renowned for her dark shades and earth tones, and Lily with her hot-colours and cold-colours.

"How do you propose we do that?"

"Go back in time by creating a wormhole." Lily paused and thought carefully. "We'll have to use a language spell –some Japanese people from modern times may know a little English, but people from the past wont... and we'll need to get some proper clothing..."

Lavender's mouth was agape. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... what's this I hear about a _worm_?" Lily immediately tuned out her sister's voice. There was no point listening to her when she does not pay attention or even knows what she's talking about. "I can't _stand_ worms!" she made a 'bleck' sound and continued talking animatedly. "I hate the way they squirm, and wiggle, and just how they look is _disgusting_! And what's worse is that... hey... wait up!"

Lily had moved ahead, trying to find a spot where she could make a portal without being seen. When she finally found one, she turned to her sister, who was still talking. "I just don't get it! Why do people feel the need to ruin perfectly good store displays by being lazy and not putting away what they pick up? I feel sorry for the workers who put effort into-" Lavender was silenced by a small black hole with a purple rim which materialized directly in front of her face.

Lily was still ignoring her twin as she started chanting the spell in her head, to create the wormhole. When it appeared, she grasped the edges of the circle, and pulled, making it larger in diameter, doing exactly what it said in the spell book. "You first."

If Lavender were a normal person, she would be wary about entering a strange and distant time, but... she was Lavender. "SWEET! I got first dibs without even having to call them! Heheh, see ya on the flipside, sis!" Lavender then disappeared through the whole. Lily rubbed her temples before going in after her sister. It was going to be a long day...

When Lily was fully out of the wormhole, she once again grasped the edges of the portal, and brought her hands together until the wormhole disappeared in a puff of smoke. Lavender was getting antsy, and showed it by hoping from side to side under the sun in the small clearing just outside of a forest that they appeared in. "Settle down... I need to do the language spell."

"What does that one do?"

"Makes it so that we will instantly learn how to speak Japanese. It's basically instant knowledge."

"You can do that?" Lavender's mouth was agape. New and fascinating possibilities immediately opened up to her. "Make me learn Portuguese!"

"No. If we need to, we can speak English to keep conversations to ourselves. Now I just gotta find it in the book, and start concentrating on the Japanese language..."

After finding the correct page, she followed the instructions. Lily chanted the spell soundlessly, moving only her lips. There was a little display of a purple, bubbly light centred on their throats and forehead. Lily then flipped a few pages to the next spell while explaining it. "This is a transformation spell. It'll transform our clothes into more common, 14th century, Japanese attire. Or whatever else you want to wear..." After Lily finished the spell, a bright yellow orb circled around them, visibly transforming their clothes into traditional peasant kimonos, while using the same materials.

"Why would I bother to get dressed in the morning, if you could just do it for me?" Lavender muttered in Japanese, to get the hang of her new found ability. Lavender inspected her wardrobe and fingered the hilt of the twin swords secured in her obi that came with it. They were her specialty discipline; she trained herself with them for four years. Lily was massaging her temples, trying to ward off the migraine that threatened to invade her brain.

* * *

Fewer trees stood in his way as Sesshomaru continued to walk ahead, out of the forest. Then very suddenly, he sensed two strange presences. They were human, but if he concentrated harder, there was a hint of... something else. He heard them speaking in tongues he didn't understand, so he concluded that they were foreigners. Foreigners trespassing on his land. He continued walking, determined to have them removed from his territory. He almost entered the clearing, and almost saw who the intruders were, until a bright light glared in his eyes, and stalled him. He readied his poison whip, thinking that the light was a distraction and they were going to attack him, but nothing came. Instead it was the voice of a young woman. 

"Because that's a waste of my time and energy..." Lily moaned. "Now bugger off..." she had just slipped to the ground, and rested her forehead on her knees, when she sensed a very odd presence behind her. It was not the familiar presence of weak energy exerted by humans, nor the presence of mana, which she found in herself. It was not holy feeling either. It was evil. If it was not angelic, it had to be demonic. There was another presence and it was a mixture of a human and a demon.

Lily's concentration was interrupted by the sounds of her sister's excited squeal. "How _cute_!" Lavender pointed at the two figures behind her. "He has _kitty _ears!" She squealed again, and Lily noticed the man's eyes narrow in annoyance, and the small child flinched and clutched his silver triangle ears. The man's eyebrows creased at the mention of 'kitty ears'. Lavender skipped up to the child and started to play with his ears while bombarding him with questions. "What's your name? How old are you? Where'd you get these _adorable_ ears?"

Sesshomaru would have attacked her, but he had more decency than to attack seemingly intelligent beings before at least demanding that they leave. Besides, she showed no hostility, and he had preferred to know where they came from. Such foreigners were not common in his lands, and he was slightly interested in what they may know about other ares. He looked over at the Lily, and noticed that she did not bother to even stand up, but instead she gave him a hard shrewd look from over her shoulder. As he stared her down, she averted her eyes towards Lavender, and replaced the stare with a look of pure and total annoyance and indignation.

"Hey there!" Sesshomaru looked down at Lavender, who was trying to hold the struggling child still. "He's not very talkative, is he? Is he your son? Brother? Nephew? Second cousin twice removed?"

"Get a grip, you spaz!" Lily stood up and addressed her sister indignantly. "Can't you tell this guy's an important person? And here you are tugging on the kid's ears, and screeching questions at them." she had assumed he was high in the social rank because of his expensive looking clothes and armour, according to her history books anyways. "No respect what-so-ever... Humph..." Lily crossed her arms, and turned to Sesshomaru, this time without the hardened look as before. "I'm Lily and this is my sister, Lavender." Lily bowed, and Lavender followed suit after standing up.

The child, who decided these people meant no harm, finally found is voice. "I'm Inuyasha..." he spoke quietly because of his nerves. "He's my big brother, Sesshomaru. Were _dog_ demons," Inuyasha emphasized the word 'dog'.

"Aww... aren't you just a little cutie!" this time Lavender when to stroke his ears carefully and gently. She realized that he probably was not used to the treatment, and was sensitive with them (considering how hard he tried to get a way from her earlier).

Sesshomaru gave a quick glare at Inuyasha, and properly introduced himself to Lily, who seemed to be the more subtle and intelligent one. "I am Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands. State your reason or trespassing on my lands immediately," Sesshomaru flexed his claws dangerously in front of them, where they could get a good view, "or I shall forcibly remove yourselves from my territory."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We aren't looking for a fight, pal." Lavender waved her hands defensibly in front of her, "we just wanna collect some treasures that are hidden in these lands... somewhere..."

"So you are thieves?" Sesshomaru forgot all thoughts about finding any interesting information. He isn't fond of thieves... or liars for that matter.

"No way! Were just-"

"Silence yourself," Sesshomaru fully turned to face Lavender, "and prepare to die." The second he uttered the last syllable, he lunged forward closing the space between them in half a second, claws at the ready. In a blink of an eye, Lavender whipped out her twin blades and deflected the attack.

"You're a speedy one, aren't cha?" Lavender had a goofy grin on her face while watching Sesshomaru. She was always practicing her technique with the twin blades, whenever she had time to herself, or when she had homework. She knew she was excellent, because of the magic enhancing her skills, but Lavender always wanted to test out her strength on an opponent who could actually challenge her. Fighting, to her, is just a game. "Let's see what 'cha got!"

Sesshomaru, as always, kept his face devoid of emotion as he charged her again. This time, he readied his whip and lashed out at her when he was close enough to keep her from blocking. His whip was millimetres from Lavender's throat, and she didn't have the space to react; yet his attack was still deflected. However that time it was repelled by an unseen force. Lavender just smirked and did a graceful back flip to put some space between them.

This time, Lavender charged at Sesshomaru. She headed straight for him, and he had both claws up while standing in a defensive pose. Lavender flipped one of her swords upside down, and ran past Sesshomaru. Predicting her attack, he dodged it, leaving Lavender to give a backhanded stab to the thin air his back used to be.

While in the air, he unwrapped his boa, and using it like a whip, tangled Lavender in it. She was so shocked that he would actually use an item of clothing to attack with, that she didn't get away in time. She felt the boa constrict her body, and all of a sudden the wind was knocked out of her as Sesshomaru swung her to the ground. He lifted her, and aimed for a nearby tree to throw her against. Just as Lavender was about to do a face plant in the tree, yet another unseen force cushioned her, and safely pushed her away from harm. Lavender collected herself and managed to wiggle free from the boa before Sesshomaru pounded her to the ground again.

Sesshomaru landed and attacked with his claws, slashing away. He was too quick for her, and she could only block a few attacks. However, not once did his claws connect with flesh. He was repelled again and again by unseen forces. As soon as Lavender found an open spot between his attacks she propelled herself forward and with one hand (while tightly holding her sword by her thumb) she grasped his shoulder and flung herself over him. She put complete trust in the unseen forces protecting her while her back was turned, and as she landed, she thrust her sword behind her intending to stab Sesshomaru in the back. When he leaped forward to dodge her attack, he felt a slight pricking feeling in his back and accelerated to get away faster.

When he no longer felt the tip of the blade, he looked back to see Lavender's sword shrink back to its normal size. _She uses such strange powers... However, these powers are not originating from her, they are emanating from somewhere else..._ Sesshomaru looked around his surroundings and saw the other woman, Lily, kneeling and watching the battle intently with one hand on her forehead, and the other clutching her kimono at her knees.

Sesshomaru allowed his poison to ooze from his hands and he charge, with full power, at Lavender. She could not react fast enough, and Sesshomaru was able to grab hold of Lavender's wrists. He felt the force trying to push him away from Lavender, but he held fast, totally intent to prove that pathetic powers could not stop him.

"Y... You were... toying with me?" Lavender's eyes were huge with shock, and the pain of his poison eating at her flesh. She had always thought that she and her sister were the strongest of the strongest because of their magic, but those from the past seem to have more power. Demon or not, she did not believe anyone would be this strong. The prophecy made Lily and Lavender seem like powerful Goddesses, which they clearly are not.

"Humph... _humans_," (Lavender made a mental note of the hateful tone he used for the word), "are no match for me. I was simply... testing." In an instant, he released her and let Lavender drop to her knees. In the next second Sesshomaru was quickly heading for Lily.

Lavender saw her twin try to put up barrier, but she could see the weak glow of green emitting from it, and knew it would not hold. "_No! RUN!_"

Lily took her sister's advice, and bolted. She had not even taken two steps before fainting from exhaustion, and missing Sesshomaru's claws my mere inches. Lily had used up far too much energy from performing all those spells, and keeping up with Sesshomaru's attacks was probably tiring for her. "THAT'S _ENOUGH_!" With full-blown rage, Lavender glared at Sesshomaru and rushed to her sister's side. She flipped Lily on her back, and checked her breathing and pulse. When she was satisfied that her twin was okay, Lavender stood and looked Sesshomaru in the eye.

"You know, you could at least hear our story before attacking." Lavender's voice had a strong sense of seriousness.

"Yet you did not try to tell your story when I attacked you." Sesshomaru flexed his claws once again. "What you have to say is of no importance to me: I do not bother with human affairs."

"Fine, kill us. It'll just be a shame that you killed innocent people without even knowing the truth, without even knowing what... _interesting_ things they may be hiding." Lavender turned her nose up in the air, and watched Sesshomaru from the corner of her eye.

Sesshomaru lowered his claws and concentrated. He looked for all the tell tale signs of a lie: the heartbeat speeding up, the over-confidence, lack of information, or too much; the scent of sweat, lack of eye contact, or sudden change in scent and emotion. Lavender didn't show any of it, so she must have something interesting for him to hear. "Explain yourself."

"We came from a land across the ocean in the East." Lavender wanted to lie as little as possible so she could keep a straight story, and one that's easy to follow. "Our demonic powers were sealed away in certain valuables. To be specific, an amulet." _our powers are lying dormant in those necklaces, though they aren't demonic powers..._ "They were sent here, and now we want to get them back." As she was talking, she suddenly wondered how they were supposed to get to where they needed to go. Someone would have to show them the way. Someone who knew the lands well... Someone like Sesshomaru... "If you help us get to them," Lavender spoke slowly, trying to find the right words that will not offend him, "then perhaps we could give you something important in return. Something of _great_ value..."

_Why would someone part with something such as what they speak of?_ Sesshomaru thought, while watching Lavender closely. "What good does it do for this Sesshomaru?"

"It depends." Lavender thought about what kind of story she could tell. However, she did not need to make any promises. Lily and herself would just ditch him after they got what they need, and there's no way he could follow them back to modern times. Why not promise him something that is real? Something, which anyone could ever want? "What I can give you provides complete immortality."

"A useless item for this Sesshomaru." he turned up his nose. "I am already immortal."

"Of 'course you're not." Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at Lavender, who defied his intelligence. "If someone stronger than you fights you, they can kill you. That doesn't sound very immortal to me..."

"There is no one that can defeat this Sesshomaru." he glared at her as though she was challenging him.

"Well then, this item can give you extra strength, and magical powers such that my sister has." Lavender looked over at her twin, who started to stir awake. She walked over to Lily, and helped her into a sitting position. "What do you say Sesshomaru?"

He watched Lavender as she spoke to Lily, making sure she was all right. _She seems truthful, but something still is not right._ Sesshomaru made up his mind. "I will aid you in your search," Lavender looked up happily, as Lily looked up confused, "however, if you fail to obey me, or if you speak lies, I will kill you both. Understood?" He was still interested about where they came from. They could have useful information. Otherwise he would have forced the item from them. _I am already a powerful Lord; however having such an item in my possession can only ensure the safety and well being of my land, and any of their information may be an asset as well._

"Of 'course, Lord Sesshomaru." Lavender bowed her head, and Lily did the same. _There are times that Lave is actually intelligent and cunning..._ Lily thought as she looked at her sister proudly. _But then again, there are times when she is extremely deceitful. Either way, having Sesshomaru on our side is a good advantage._

Inuyasha, who was hiding behind a tree the entire time afraid to get caught in the fray, finally walked out into the open after hearing that the two girls were going to travel with him and his brother. Lavender noticed him, and called him over. "C'mon, Inuyasha, we're going on a treasure hunt!"

"Really?" Inuyasha looked up happily at Sesshomaru, who completely ignored him as usual. "I've never been on a treasure hunt before." He smiled up at Lavender when she grabbed his hand.

"Let's go!" Lavender took a step, and halted. "Lords first, of course." She stood aside, and allowed Sesshomaru to pass. After he walked by, she linked arms with Lily so as to hold her straight (she still felt a little woozy). And that is how they started their journey: Sesshomaru in the lead, with Lavender directly behind him holding Inuyasha's hand on her left, and linking arms with Lily on the right.

**A/N: **Yay for Daiya's first chappie! Hurrah! Please review. Even if it's just a single letter. I don't mind. I don't even need to hear if it's good, I'd be happy if someone sent something that read "beans". I just want to make sure that people are actually reading this. Like I said up there , I'm gonna finish the story, however, if I know lots of people are reading this, I might just feel obliged to update faster. I also don't mind criticism. But do it nicely because I would probably discontinue if someone said something like "OMG! LEIK YOU SUK! I KILL U!111!1". Actually, I'd point and laugh... but if someone said, "your writing is pathetic, your storyline is terrible, and you don't know what you're doing" then I'd say f you, and discontinue. I'm very sensitive. Anyways... I write too much... I'll update... in maybe a week or two... maybe earlier (wink wink, nudge nudge).

PS: This chapter has been FIXED


	2. The First Day

**A/N:** Gah! I got no reviews... sniffles... Oh well, here's chappie 2. Man, I saw so many grammatical errors in my first chapter Oo;. I'd fix them now, but I don't have time for it right. I tried very hard to make this one perfect. It probably isn't... oh well... I have nothing else to say here... so... Oh! I forget the disclaimer!

**Disclaimer:** Inuyasha does not belong to me. Well... now that everyone knows my amazing secret, on with the story!

**Chapter 2: The First Day**

Lily had explained to Sesshomaru exactly what they were looking for. An old, collapsed manor, which would have just recently caved in, would be housing the amulets. After her explanation, Lily had asked Lavender what she told Sesshomaru to get him to help while speaking English. This upset Sesshomaru greatly, and he demanded to know what they were speaking of. They had spoken for a fairly long time in the strange language, and he was concerned that they were planning something.

"Err, please Lord Sesshomaru, I'd rather not say..." Lavender looked down shyly at her feet as she spoke. Lily followed suit, deciding that her sister was going to lie, and felt that she should at least try to play along.

"Do not disobey my orders." Sesshomaru gave her a deadly glare, and cracked his knuckles.

_He needs a new threat... I hate the sound of cracking bones_. Lavender inwardly shuddered. "It's really embarrassing though..."

Sesshomaru let loose a growl. Inuyasha, who had been following the conversation like a tennis match, took a step back in fear.

"Okay!" Lavender sighed, "We were talking about you!"

When Lavender didn't go on, he edged her on and gave her a sharp glare. "Continue."

"We were saying that you have a nice ass, are very sexy, and powerful..." Lavender gave him a glare of her own. It was only half of the truth, but Sesshomaru didn't need to know that. "Happy now?"

Sesshomaru could not detect a lie, so he let it pass and continued walking. "Try to contain yourselves."

The twins looked at each other, and rolled their eyes. Inuyasha gained more courage, and continued to walk beside Lavender.

* * *

It had been a couple hours of walking when Lavender's stomach gave a nice, loud, roar. She blushed as Sesshomaru turned his gaze towards her. He starred at her for a few moments, making her squirm under his gaze, and conjured up a plan. _This might be a chance to test their demonic nature. They said only their powers were sealed, not their habits_. _If Lavender spoke the truth, the taste of raw demon should be able to quell their hunger. If they do not finish what I bring them, they are nothing more than pathetic humans._

"Wait here. I will get some food." and with that, he was gone.

Inuyasha gasped in surprise. "Sesshomaru never gets food!"

"Maybe he's just trying to be nice." Lavender smiled up at the distant figure, happy that she would not have to search for her own dinner.

Lily on the other hand, was a little nervous. "I think he's up to something. He's a lord, isn't he? Why would he bother with us? And if he won't even get his own brother food, why us?"

"As long as I get some grub, then I wouldn't care if it's poisoned."

"Your funeral..."

"C'mon Little Guy, let's play some hid-n-seek!" Lavender tugged Inuyasha away from Lily. "She's too gloomy to be around. Alright then, I'll be 'it', and you can hide, kay?"

"But I don't know how to play..."

"You WHAT!" Lavender knelt down in front of Inuyasha, and explained to him the rules of the game as well as some pointers. Lily opened the spell book she had to carry around all day, and continued to study from it.

Half an hour went by before Sesshomaru came back. He was greeted by the sight of Lavender wrestling Inuyasha to the ground yelling, "YOU'RE _IT_, AND YOU'RE GONNA _LIKE_ _IT_!" above the giggles of Inuyasha. He had tried to keep hiding even though he was 'it', so Lavender tackled him to the ground. Lily noticed Sesshomaru, and was the first to greet him.

"Thank God you're here!" she lowered her voice to a whisper, "they're so freakin' loud! I can't concentrate... with you around, they'll go quiet at least..."

Lavender then noticed the strange hunk of meat in his hands, and happily voiced her thoughts, "That's _huge_! We're gonna be full tonight!"

Inuyasha came up next, licking his lips as he hungrily stared at the chunk of meat.

"Eat. Now." Sesshomaru dropped the meat to the ground, and sat cross-legged behind it, waiting patiently for them to finish.

Lavender and Lily sat on the other side of their diner, and that's when Lily realized his plan. _This meat has a demonic aura... Demons eat other demons, and we're supposedly demons, which means that we're supposed to eat... a demon..._ She inwardly sighed, and looked over at Lavender. She was eyeing the demon curiously when Lily spoke in English "_eat it and like it, forget the taste_". Lily then searched her mind for a spell that lessens an opponent's senses, while scratching her chin in concentration. She knew she read something about it, and it was not a complex spell. If she could use it on herself, then the taste would not be as strong and disgusting.

Inuyasha was the first to start chowing down. Lily was second. Lavender noticed that Lily did not flinch at the taste, and if Lily did not find it too disgusting, then Lavender would definitely have a better time eating it. So, she made sure to keep a straight face and prepared herself for the worse before digging in. As the taste hit her tongue, she felt a strong urge to vomit or gag. It tasted quite familiar to the earthworms she had to eat once due to a dare, but it was much, much worse, as if the earthworms were swimming in a pile of manure for several weeks. However, being the good little girl, she forced the meat down her throat as though it was broccoli, but without the flinching and whining. _Mmm... Raw... just the way I like my meat_.Lily decided to be a good sister and use the spell on her too. She was grateful that so many spells were non-verbal; otherwise Sesshomaru might question what they're doing.

When they finished as much as they possibly could, Lily, Lavender, and Inuyasha thanked Sesshomaru for the food. He seemed displeased, not that it showed in his face, but the way he stood up and started stalking away without a word gave him away.

It was an hour later when Lavender and Lily started feeling sick to their stomach. _Just great... food poisoning_. Lily sighed, and spoke to her sister, once again in English (to Sesshomaru's annoyance) "_Lave, find a way to convince You-Know-Who to stop and have a break._" Lily had thought that if she had a chance to stop and concentrate, she could look for a healing spell in her Now-Extremely-Useful-Spell-Book. "_Make up a good reason, or he'll suspect something,_"

"_Okay,_" Lavender sat thinking for a moment, ignoring the obvious tense back of Sesshomaru. _They had better not be speaking of me again..._ "Milord..." Lavender tried her best to sound apologetic when she spoke, and even added a tilted puppy-dog face. "Lily and I... We just wanted to know if it would be alright if we could stop, and get ourselves washed up."

Sesshomaru stopped and turned to face them. "It is a waste of time. However, your scents are putrid, and it would be much more tolerable traveling if you cleanse yourselves." He turned away, and led them to the right of the path. _What a liar... My raspberry body lotion is the perfect scent! If anyone around here stinks, it's Lavender or Inuyasha._ Lily thought indignantly. The only scented thing Lavender wears is her lavender body spray (_she doesn't even realize that lavender is _not_ a summer scent, _Lily glared at her sister, who was testing her pits for BO).

In a few moments of walking, they came across a shallow spring. Sesshomaru sat a few feet away from it, with his back to the water and his feet crossed beneath him. Inuyasha was too excited to stop walking, and stripped down immediately so he could play in the shallow area of the spring. Lily was next, slowly stripping down and dipping her feet in the water. She was holding her book above the water's surface: the faster she found the spell, the faster she would keep herself from being sick –which is what she was close to being at the moment.

Unlike her sister, Lavender was never the type to proudly show off her body. She never wanted to reveal any more than she needed, and did not want guys ogling her. The twins had the exact same curves, and they had the perfect body weight. Not too thin, not too large. If any guy wanted to see a more detailed picture of Lavender, then all they had to do was put her head on Lily's bikini clad body (she'd would be just as happy to go skinny dipping at the beaches, but her sister kept her from doing so). Not that any guys looked at Lavender anyway. Lily was usually always there, so the attention (if there is any) would be on her.

Now Lavender was standing at the edge of the spring, with Sesshomaru sitting only a few feet away. Lily rolled her eyes when she noticed Lavender eyeing Sesshomaru suspiciously, while swaying slightly on the spot. He felt her eyes on the back of his head, so he turned his head and stared right back at her. She blushed and averted her gaze to the ground. There was no way she was going to undress in front of someone like Sesshomaru... even if his back _is_ turned.

"This Sesshomaru has granted you the permission to rest and wash up," Sesshomaru stood up and walked up to her. Lily looked up from the book, sensing Lavender's energy level dangerously low, and Inuyasha was watching from behind Lily with the water rising to his nose. "I suggest you take advantage of it." Lavender looked at him with pained eyes, and she felt herself suddenly fall forward. "Fuck" was her last word before she fainted into Sesshomaru's arms. He released her and let her fall to the ground. "Do something about her." He said to Lily, and then seated himself in his original spot. Inuyasha tried to run to her side, but Lily told him to stay back. He pouted, but obeyed. All Lily did was gingerly move Lavender's body into a more comfortable position, and continued reading her spell book in the spring.

* * *

Lavender awoke with a nude, sopping wet Lily kneeling beside her. "Gross!" Lavender pushed aside her sister, and looked around. "What happened?"

"You fainted," Lily stepped in the spring again as she spoke. "You were only out for a minute or two before I found a spell to help you." Lily leaned back and relaxed. "Looks like we aren't used to the meat in this land," she gave her sister a look that said 'play-along-with-it-or-he'll-be-more-suspicious-than-before-and-kill-us-because-we-disobeyed-his-orders-to-never-lie'. A normal person would not get that much information out of a single look like that, but because Lily and Lavender share a magical link, she can understand such looks as 'get-your-homework-done-because-I'm-not-doing-it-for-you-and-the-teacher-will-give-you-another-detention-but-you-promised-me-you'd-go-to-the-movies-with-me-and-Lynda-and-there's-no-way-Lynda-and-I-will-ever-forgive-you-if-you-get-stuck-in-detention-again-Lavender'.

"Yeah..." Lavender started to strip down, no longer caring that Sesshomaru was there because of how funny she felt. It wasn't often that she'd be sicker than her sister when it came to food. Lavender usually had a better time with such things. All she wanted was a nice, hot bath. "I feel much better now though, thanks Lil."

"I was really worried about you!" Inuyasha rushed to hug her as soon as she stepped foot in the spring. "When brother dropped you, and you didn't get up, I thought you _died_..."

"Aww, don't worry Inuyasha... I wont die that easy..." Lavender rubbed Inuyasha's ears as Lily suppressed a giggle, waiting for Lavender to react. "Wait a second..." she stopped stroking Inuyasha's ears and glared at Sesshomaru. "You _dropped_ me? How inconsiderate! If I have a bump on my head, I might just have to make you pay, big guy!"

_Not even in your dreams, woman..._ Sesshomaru thought as he continued to keep watch.

"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" Lavender asked after noticing that he was shivering against her chest. He had a little pout on his face, and he kept his mouth shut. When he did not answer, she instead tried to take his mind off whatever was bothering him. "Do you like swimming, Inuyasha?"

He looked up at her with sad eyes. "I don't know how to swim..."

"Then I'll teach ya!" Lavender was happy that he was not shivering anymore, but the sad look was kind of a few minutes Lily got bored of their splashing and laughing. She got out to dry and sat next to Sesshomaru after getting dressed.

Lily wanted to have a half decent conversation with the demon lord. It was a known fact that Sesshomaru did not trust them. Why? The twins did not know. All they new was that Sesshomaru was always giving them looks that said all to clearly 'watch your step'. If he could get a little more comfortable with them, then maybe he could grow a little more trusting of them, which in turn would make it a lot easier to travel with him. "So Sesshomaru, if Inuyasha is a hanyou, and you're a full demon, then is it your father, or mother that you share?"

"Of what importance is that information to you?" Sesshomaru kept still and as emotionless as ever. He hated speaking of his parents. One he -if he were capable of emotion- loved with all his heart, but sadly was forced from his life. The other he felt bitter towards for being weak, and for making the first one leave.

"Just curious, I guess..." She was speaking the truth. She had wondered why Inuyasha was not with his parents, and instead with his older half-brother.

"We shared the same father."

"Oh..." _'Shared'? He must've died..._ "What about your mother and Inuyasha's?"

Sesshomaru glared at her, believing that she was asking too many unprovoked questions, but decided it would not hurt to answer half of it. "Inuyasha's mother died of sickness nearly a week ago."

"That's terrible!" Lily looked over at Inuyasha, who was desperately searching for Lavender who was hiding underwater. When he started panicking, Lavender finally pounced on him from behind and he screamed. When he realized who it was, he suffered from a fit of laughter. "Young children shouldn't be left without parents to look after them... At least he's got you." Lily smiled up at Sesshomaru, thinking _Yeah right, like he cares about the kid_...

When Lavender and Inuyasha were pruned beyond recognition, they finally got out to dry and get dressed. When they were ready, Sesshomaru led them back to the path, and towards their destination.

* * *

They were travelling for many hours. Sesshomaru, as always, was in the lead. Lavender was a metre behind him with Inuyasha resting on her hip as she carried him. Then there was Lily bringing up the rear, with her nose in the spell book (her goal was to memorize every spell, and move on to the next book that had stronger, and more complicated spells in it. There were three in all).

Lavender and Inuyasha finally got bored of playing 'I Spy' because it was getting dark and difficult to see all the colours (that, and the colours silver, white, gold, and red were getting old). Lily gave up on reading also because of lack of light. Sesshomaru was, as usual, unfazed by anything.

Lavender felt herself getting drowsy, and Inuyasha snoozing in her arms was not helping her much. As she walked, she entertained herself with by becoming immersed in the shimmering moonlight in Sesshomaru's hair. After a few moments of watching the light create patterns on his silver locks, she became mesmerized. She watched in awe as his hair swayed with each step, and how the moonlight glittered on it. Lavender reached out her hand, walked a little faster so she could catch up to Sesshomaru, to try and touch the light (which she thought was possible in her mesmerized state). _It just looks so pretty..._ she thought.

Sesshomaru heard Lavender's footsteps getting closer, and all of a sudden he felt a little tug on his hair. In a split second, Sesshomaru whipped around and grabbed Lavender's offending hand. He pulled her forward so that she was barely an inch from his face. Lavender collected herself, and held Inuyasha tightly so he would not fall or wake up.

"What are you doing?" He growled at her, glaring with narrowed eyes.

"Um..." Lavender did not let her gaze move from his. "It would seem that I'm touching your hair." she gave a fake cheery smile, hoping he would take it as a silly joke or something along those lines.

"This Sesshomaru will only repeat this once more." he released her hand, and continued walking while saying over his shoulder, "Contain yourself."

Lavender sighed in defeat, and Lily giggled at her twin's ability to make a fool out of herself. Inuyasha gave a little snort in his sleep. "Lord Sesshomaru, would it be okay to stop for the night?"

Sesshomaru stopped and looked back. Lily's eyelids were heavy, Inuyasha was already asleep, and Lavender was stifling a yawn. He did not want to carry them to the manor if they fainted from exhaustion, so he nodded and sat down at the base of a nearby tree.

Lily walked to a soft spot not too far away from him, and laid down on the soft grass. Lavender sat behind her sister, and she placed Inuyasha in Lily's arms because she was getting tired of holding him. Lavender did not fall as sleep like the others, and instead watched the glittering stars.

"There's so many..." She whispered to herself. Sesshomaru watched as she smiled at the sky, and realized that she was not going to bed anytime soon at this rate. He finally decided to get up and find a hot spring to relax in. Ever since he found Inuyasha, he never had a moment's peace to himself.

Lavender watched him go, not bothering to ask where he was going. The second he stood up her conniving mind instantly created a scheme to follow him for her own entertainment. Lavender always had so much fun trying to dig for secrets about mysterious people. After a few minutes, Lavender got up slowly and tip toed out of the clearing. She walked around for a bit, until she finally spotted Sesshomaru's white hakama and haori against a dark background. She fingered the soft material, and traced the red flower print. _This should be fun_, Lavender smirked to herself, thinking of his undressed state. She walked closer to her target, and saw steam rising from a spring, with Sesshomaru leaning on the edge with his back to her. He looked beautiful, resting in the spring with the water reflecting the moon and the stars.

"What are you doing here?" Sesshomaru did not even budge. He just sat there with his eyes closed in contentment (however, he was not all that happy, he always felt too vulnerable in hot springs).

"I got bored, and wanted to see what you're up to." Lavender laid down behind him. "So... are _you_ bored yet?"

Sesshomaru took a moment to answer. "Guiding you to your destination is... beneath me."

"In other words: yes."

After a few moments of silence, Sesshomaru spoke. "What are your lands like?"

Lavender thought for a moment, and replied. "Freezing in the winter, and burning in the summer. I love the weather here: not too hot, yet not too cold." Lavender sighed a sigh of relaxation. "I live in a country much, _much_ bigger than yours. And it's beautiful, like it is here."

_A much larger land? That does not bode well with this Sesshomaru... _"Where is it?"

"Like I said before, across the ocean to the East. But, you could never get there without a proper boat. It's way too far, probably even too far for you to fly to."

_The people of that land are capable of coming here, yet I cannot make it there? This also is not promising. _"Did you get here by boat?"

"Yep. We have made very sturdy boats, so that they could make the journey. However, ours isn't with us now. When we want to go back, we can just use our demonic powers. Us demons from my land are so used to such long overseas trips that we can make it without the boat." While she was talking, Sesshomaru turned to face her. Lavender smirked, and asked a question of her own. "Since when did you ask so many questions?"

Sesshomaru took a moment before replying. "You come from a place I do not know of. It is in my best interest to understand us much as I can that involves this Sesshomaru."

"Pfft! You're probably just so worked up about politics that you think we're gonna try to steal your lands from you!" Lavender laughed at his insecurity, and Sesshomaru turned his back in defiance. "You're probably just too tense, but I can fix that!"

The next second, Sesshomaru felt Lavender's soft, and slightly cold, fingertips gently press up against his shoulders. She felt him tense up even more at the contact, but he eventually sagged his shoulders after a few moments of Lavender's fingers moving in a rhythmic motion along his back. She could not help herself. The powerful, handsome, demonic (three of the things on Lavender's 'cool/hot' list) was sitting in a hot spring, taking a relaxing bath, wearing absolutely nothing. Of course she wanted to touch him! She just needed an excuse. Another thing on her 'to do list', which was created as soon as she saw him in the spring, was to see a little more of him. Unfortunately her eyes were denied access because of the steamy water and the darkness around them.

Lavender had originally expected Sesshomaru to smack her hands away and be his old shallow self when she started her massaging, but when Sesshomaru started to move his shoulders with the rhythm she was creating, she realized that it would probably be a while before he told her to stop.

It was at least five minutes (but it felt like an hour to Lavender, and thirty seconds to Sesshomaru) until Lavender finally pulled her arms away. Sesshomaru turned around to see her cracking her fingers and hands with a sour look of her face.

"Why are you acting as such?" Sesshomaru was disappointed and wanted Lavender to continue her procedure. Also, the sour face didn't help much. There was nothing _sour_ about Sesshomaru.

"It's nothing, really." Of course, Lavender was lying, but she did not bother to disguise it. It wasn't like some kind of gigantic secret, kind of like the one she was already keeping from him.

"Do not lie to this Sesshomaru." his voice was angered, but inside he was a little relieved: it was reassuring that he was able to detect Lavender's lie. Now he would know what to look for in the future if she lies to him again.

Lavender's real problem is that she and her best friend, Terry, would always give each other massages because they played a lot of extreme sports (_very_ extreme sports). She was not exactly homesick; it was just that she would get a massage from Terry after she gave him a back-rub. Lavender new that there was no way Sesshomaru would _ever_ massage her back... ever...

"Forget about it, it's not a big deal. We should just head back." she waited for a moment for Sesshomaru to get up with her, but then remembered that he was completely nude. Lavender scurried away, giving him some privacy (she was slightly reluctant, however).

When Sesshomaru arrived at their little camp, he saw that Lavender was already asleep, back-to-back next to her sister. He sat at the base of his tree, and watched Lavender for the rest of the night. He found her efforts to be soothing and pleasant, which felt wonderful after having to deal with an annoying child for a week. He never did like children, and he was not going to change just because Inuyasha stumbled into his life.

**A/N: **Review? Like I said... it doesn't have to be anything special... I'll be happy with 'Beans', 'moo', or even each of the 1 million digits in pi.

PS:I have FIXED this chapter.


	3. The Creature

**A/N:** YAY! I have ONE reviewer! Gothshadowdragonofhell (uh... that's a mouthful, I'll just allow myself to dub you gothshadow ;), you are my hero for all eternity (bows). Thank you ever so much, for you have made me very happy. (See? I'm easily amused. To see more hero worshipping... REVIEW !) Pretty deep, eh? Anyways, I'm finally updating... I meant to put this up two days ago, but so much stuff got in the way. That, and I didn't want to give out any evil cliffies because I know that my next update may take awhile. I'm on March Break though, so I might, maybe, possibly, be able to get the next chappie out by Friday or something... We shall see... on with the story...

**Disclaimer: **Wouldn't you like to know? ...If I owned Inuyasha, I don't think I'd be writing this little fanfic...

**Chapter** **3: The Creature**

Sesshomaru and Lavender grew closer during the next six days. Every night, Sesshomaru would stray away from camp and Lavender would follow him intent on 'bugging' him. However, it always ended the same way with Lavender's hands pressed against his back, giving him a relaxing back-rub. Usually, she would hate giving someone a massage knowing she would not get one in return, but this was Sesshomaru, and he made her think differently. For instance, she noticed that he is, as a matter of fact, very entrancing. Every once in a while she'd find herself staring at him, and at the same time completely blocking out Inuyasha and Lily.

On their third day of travelling, Lavender decided that she really, _really_, liked Sesshomaru. Perhaps it was the simple moment they shared together at the spring the first night, or maybe she was simply attracted to his strength and body. Whatever it was, she was beginning to feel a certain lust for him.

"_That's a quick crush,_" Lily said in a bored tone after Lavender told her sister about her feelings, while speaking English.

"_Crush? Are you sure it isn't something... bigger...?_" Lavender asked while watching Sesshomaru ahead of her with glazed eyes.

"_No matter what anyone says, love doesn't come this quick, if that's what you're implying._ _Trust me on this one, I lost my virginity to a guy I thought I loved after knowing him for four days._" Lily's eyes became misty as she remembered that night, and her lips formed a lopsided grin. "_We broke up the night later, and I moved on to my next boyfriend without regrets. I don't think that's how love is supposed to make you feel._"

"_Not everyone's the same..._"

"_No... But they're close enough._"

* * *

Two nights before they reached the collapsed manor, their fourth night of travelling, Lavender and Sesshomaru were already extremely close. Sesshomaru was not sure why he was able to let her so close, or why he was able to let her touch him like she did. Worst of all, he didn't understand why he enjoyed it so much. It was not like she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was certainly pretty, however Lavender seemed fairly manly. Her skin was much more soft and smooth than most woman, but he noticed before that she had a very tone body, and a lot of muscle, which to him seemed masculine. The women he has been with in the past were weak little things, but far more beautiful than Lavender. Lily was more like the women he was usually with than Lavender, so he was confused as to why he enjoyed Lavender's company more.

That night, Sesshomaru was waiting on a fallen tree trunk when Lavender found him. She always went after him, Sesshomaru was just as sure of that as he was sure of the sun rising the next morning. She giggled and started up a conversation.

"You're so cute, you know that?"

Sesshomaru's response was the lifting of an eyebrow. He was not pleased with her degrading him. _Cute_?

"The way you always wait for me, like a-" she cut herself off. Lavender figured he would get offended if she said what was on her mind. "It's just cute, that's all..."

Sesshomaru did not respond, and simply sat there watching her. Lavender gazed into his golden eyes, and he gazed back. After a few more moments, Lavender felt awkward under his gaze, and slowly took off his armour and haori to give herself something to do. She stood directly behind him and rubbed his shoulders and back, and he leant back and rested his head against her chest. From being so close, he could pick up the many different scents of exotic fruits behind the mucky scent of the forest and spring water. She certainly had a wonderful scent, making him relax further on Lavender.

After a minute or two, Lavender stopped moving her hands, and she leaned into Sesshomaru while resting her chin on his head. She took a deep breath, and noted the clean earthy scent from his hair. They stood like that for a long time before Sesshomaru realized she was not doing anything, and nearly asleep on his head.

"Lavender..." Sesshomaru spoke softly to her.

"...Hmm?" she did not bother to move. She was far too comfortable.

"You need some sleep... you've been up with me for the past four nights."

"I'm not tired... just... happy..."

Sesshomaru closed his eyes. How did this happen so quickly? She looks human, and she smells like one. Only her aura is different. That must be why he has not bothered to leave her and her sister. He knows that as soon as they find the manor, they will obtain their demonic powers. Or at least that is what he hopes. Sesshomaru nearly jumped in shock after remembering the peculiarity of the twins. His heart thumped harder, hoping that they really were demons missing their demonic powers. There was something about Lavender and her twin that he could not put his finger on. All he needed was time to figure out what it is.

Eventually Lavender stood up straight, stretched, and began to walk back to camp with a good yawn. "Good night, Lord Sesshomaru..."

Sesshomaru got up, and followed directly beside her. When they got back to Lily and Inuyasha, Lavender took her usual spot beside Lily, and instantly fell asleep. Sesshomaru watched her sleep peacefully for the fourth night in a row.

* * *

They finally found their destination. The manor was recently destroyed, and there were bits of debris scattered everywhere, and a thick smell of dust invaded their senses. It looked as though the walls simply gave out, and the roof fell flat on top of the mess. The manor was not a large one, just big enough to house a single man and all is belongings. Standing around the destroyed manor, there was a large group of bandits who seemed upset by the lack of valuables in the mess.

One noticed Sesshomaru's fancy armour, and "pretty women", and called out to his gang. They said they were going to kill him, take his armour, and then rape his women. Or, more specifically they hollered that they would steal from him and have fun with his girls.

Lily was completely unfazed (she could easily defend a bunch of weak humans with some simple magic spells), Inuyasha was daydreaming about... something or rather. He never had anything to fear when travelling with Sesshomaru. Except for maybe making him upset. However, Lavender was seething inside. As Sesshomaru lifted his hands, preparing to slice-n-dice them with his whip, Lavender tugged on his sleeve.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she had a determined, and an angry look in her eyes, "can I deal with them?"

Sesshomaru lowered his hand, and stepped to the side of the path. "Thanks milord," she gave a little bow, and unsheathed her twin blades. She shredded her kimono so it was at half-thigh length to give her more room to move, "it has been _far_ too long since that last time I had a decent fight..." Lavender smirked and looked at Sesshomaru, hoping to see a scandalized look on his face for declaring he wasn't a decent fight. Of course, there was no look on his face. Lavender charged toward the closest bandit (who, like the rest, were laughing at the idea of a woman actually fighting).

Since the bandits were too busy laughing, it took a few seconds of reaction time to realize one of their comrade's head was sliced off and rolling to the side. Lavender stood next to the body with a gigantic smirk on her face. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Hey you, bitch!" the one with the most expensive armour, and the largest weapon stepped forward. "How _dare_ you kill my... my... _comrade_!"

"Oh please," Lavender waved her hand aside, dismissing the man's words, "we don't need to get all emotional, do we? I mean c'mon, don't you want to at least _try_ and get revenge while you're still alive?" Lavender gave a short fake laugh, and turned her blades upside-down. "I wanna have some fun." She stood, bouncing on the balls of her feet like a boxer, and even holding her fists up as though she was about to punch the nearest person.

"Arrrgh! GET HER!" the bandit shouted at his comrades, and they all sprung into action. Seventeen men where charging at Lavender with their katanas, axes, and spears raised and ready to attack. She could only widen her smirk.

As the first man came within arm's length of Lavender, she shot out her fist holding tightly to the hilt of her sword, allowing it to slash through her opponent's gut. She hacked and slashed through the bandits, predicting their moves (with the help of Lily sending telepathic warnings), and acting quicker than they could even realize what was going on.

Sesshomaru watched in awe. She was a very graceful fighter, almost like a dancer. She twirled and arched her back to dodge attacks, and then when she spun the momentum of her spin would force her blades into the backs of her enemies, thus ending their lives. She would duck low enough that she needed to hold herself up with one hand, and she would extend the other and bring the blade to pierce the bandit who had tried to spear her in the back. Sesshomaru was mesmerized by her ability. Lavender looked so graceful and talented. He had never seen someone fight like her. She held her blades upside down, and she fought as though she were fist fighting, but she would punch with her accuracy slightly off so that instead of her fist making contact, it was the deadly blade.

When over half of the men were down, Lavender backed off by doing a few flips. The bandits gave her a calculating glare, as though trying to see if she would try something dangerous. Instead, she wiped her brow, and searched for scratches.

"Excellent!" Lavender smiled happily when she found herself unscathed. "My agility is top notch, even a group of thirty men can't touch me!" she started to laugh at their pathetic attempts until her sister interrupted her.

"That's _seventeen_ men..." Lily said with boredom present in her voice.

"Whatever..." Lavender glared at her twin, then turned her gaze towards the five or six bandits left. "Alright, I'll make a deal with you guys. I'll spare your lives if you give me everything you have of value, savvy?"

"Knock it off, we don't have time for this!" Lily sighed. "The amulets are hidden under that rubbish, lets just take 'em and go!"

"You're no fun..."

"Wouldn't it be more fun to fight with your demonic power?"

Lavender's eyes lit up. "Yeah... it would..." she grinned and turned to the manor. The last of the bandits were not sure of what they should do. So, they slowly started to back away, careful not to make a sound. "Hold it right there!" Lavender did not even have to look back to know that they were trying to escape. "I'm not... done with... you... yet!" she was having a hard time speaking as she tried to wedge a plank of wood free from the mess. She stopped and looked back at the others, each one of them were watching her with interest. "Well? Aren't you guys gonna help me?"

Lily snapped out of her staring, and whipped out her book (she eventually got sick and tired of having to carry it around, that she created a little strap from her kimono to wrap around the book, and slung it over her shoulder). She found what she was looking for, and started to utter the foreign words on the paper. As she was creating the spell, she waved her hands around purposefully, and the bits of the manor started to lift into the air.

Inuyasha was extremely impressed with the show of magic, and he showed it by jumping about excitedly around Sesshomaru saying how wonderful Lily was. Sesshomaru was impressed too, but did not bother to show it. Lavender huffed, and walked back to her travel companions, _I bet she thinks she's cool..._

Lily spread out her hands wide, and the debris she picked up flew in all directions, however avoiding the area the four travellers stood. The remaining bandits, who were still trying to decide when to make their escape, we bombarded by bits and pieces of wood flying in their direction. A deadly splinter pierced each one. As they fell to the ground, dead, Lavender sighed; she wanted to be the one to finish them off.

Eventually, every last bit of the manor was tossed aside and piled in a circle around them, leaving an opening for the group to enter by, without having to climb over the mound of garbage. Nearby trees had sharp splinters stuck in them, and a few of the smaller trees were even knocked over by the force of larger pieces of debris.

"Okay, Lavender, the amulets are in the middle somewhere..." Lily pointed to the spot where the manor once stood. "Or at least, they should be..." she added as an afterthought, thinking that maybe they were tossed aside with the rest of the manor.

Lavender skipped to the centre of the new clearing, and found a red mahogany jewellery box toppled over in the centre. It had complex designs embedded in it with gold. Lavender brought the box back to Lily, eager to open it.

"This is it!" Lavender started hoping from one foot to the other, showing her excitement. "Open it, open it!"

Lily finished checking out the box, and opened the golden latch at the front. Sesshomaru watched curiously from behind Lavender, while Inuyasha was trying to climb up her leg to get a clearer view. Lily pulled out two necklaces. One had a thick silver chain, and on it was a large circular amulet. The pendant was white, and in the centre there was swirls of blue and black, moving about in the amulet like a storm. The other necklace was the same size and shape, but the chain was gold, and had an orange pendant. There was a green and white storm swirling around inside of it.

Lily picked up hers, the gold one, and placed it around her neck. She tapped the amulet with her index and middle fingers, and the entire necklace sank into her skin. Inuyasha gasped loudly.

"How did it do that? Where did it go?" Inuyasha looked up to Lavender who was now carrying him in her arms.

"It went inside of her body, and it's gonna devour her from the inside out!" Lavender cried, giving her best, horrified expression to Inuyasha.

"OH NO!" Inuyasha looked to Lily, nearly with tears in his eyes and then called out to his brother while pointing at Lily. "Big brother! You have to save her!"

"Lavender, you're such a jerk!" Lily tossed the fancy jewellery box to the ground, and with the silver necklace, she smacked Lavender in the side of the head. "Don't tease him!"

"Ow!" Lavender rubbed the injured area on her head, ignoring Inuyasha's questioning look. "That's heavy! Don't do that, ya jerk!" she ripped the chain from Lily's hands, and set Inuyasha down so she could put it on. It was heavy on her neck, and when she touched it with her two fingers like Lily, it sank into her skin.

"Don't worry Little Guy, I was just joking with you." Lavender pat Inuyasha's head while she spoke. He was still giving her a questioning look.

"Okay, Lave, just concentrate on your power, that should be enough to activate it."

"Kay,"

The twins closed their eyes, and concentrated. Lily's body began to glow a light orange, and green and white flames engulfed her body, bursting from the ground. After a few seconds, the flames died down, and Lily appeared. Her body sprouted orange, black, and white fur, and her once hazel eyes turned solid green. The flames burnt Lily's kimono, and a solid, fitted, yellow haori took its place, and with a white obi holding it shut. The haori fell to her knees, and the sleeves reached her wrists. Lily shuffled her feet, which were in tiny gold slippers, and looked up to Lavender, who was watching in awe. Lily was now transformed into her 'demonic' self: a tigress with black and orange stripes, and even a long wispy tail to match.

Lily looked at Lavender expectantly, waiting for her to transform too. "I was distracted by your sudden change!" Lavender said, trying to hide the fact that she could not concentrate hard enough. "Don't give me that look!" Lily rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna try again!"

She thought harder, and managed this time. However, it took several seconds more to start the transformation. Her body started to glow white, and black and blue flames engulfed her body. When the show was over, her skin was covered in white and black fur, and her dark brown eyes turned solid blue. Her destroyed kimono was replaced by a blue haori reaching mid-thigh (for more movement than at the knee), with a black obi. She wore silver greaves on her silver cloth boots, and her twin blades were secured in her obi. Lavender was now a white tigress, swinging her tail from side to side.

Sesshomaru was not sure what to believe. Their auras changed significantly, but their scents stayed the same. A demon should not have the scent of a human, mixed with that of a tiger. Their aura on the other hand seemed very demonic. _Perhaps their human scent is based on the fact that they were in human form for quite some time... _Sesshomaru just was not sure of what to think.

Sesshomaru was snapped out of his thoughts by Lavender's voice. "Hey, Lord Sesshomaru," she got right up in his face, "what do you think of our look? Or more importantly, what do you think of our power?" She flexed her biceps, "pretty big, huh? I bet I could take you on!"

"Humph..." Sesshomaru turned his back on her and started walking away; all the while he was smirking. "You could not defeat me. Not even in your dreams..."

"What was that, tough guy? A CHALLENGE!" Lavender spread out her legs, and clenched her fists. "Bring it on!"

Lavender charged forward at amazing speed with a large grin on her face. Sesshomaru could sense her coming, and dropped his smirk. He did not want her to see his emotion. He leapt into the air, and he could feel Lavender's aura chase him into the sky. He turned around in mid-air, and saw a flash of a shadow, and in the next instant she was right next to him. Lavender grasped his sleeve, and allowed her power to pour out of her fingertips. His haori began to freeze, and she snapped the frozen piece off with a slight flick of the wrist.

"See? I can be quick too, ya know. Not to mention I'm cool as ice." Lavender gave him a smirk, and he gave one right back, forgetting to.

Sesshomaru landed on the ground, and stood in an offensive stance. "Now that I understand the kind of powers I am dealing with, this battle can begin." He raced forward, and attacked with his claws. She easily blocked the attack with her bare arm.

"I excel in defensive power. You can try and cut me up all you want, but it will be a while before you actually make a scratch." Lavender puffed out her chest proudly.

"It's a good thing too, because you're always so careless and klutzy, without defensive strength, you'd probably end up hurting yourself..."

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut your mouth, Lily!" Lavender gave a deadly glare to her sister, and turned her attention back to Sesshomaru, who was inspecting the shattered bits of his clothing.

"Sorry 'bout that," Lavender approached him. "Ice is my main element. I can make it materialize out of thin air!" She showed off proudly by forming a sword of ice. From her fisted right-hand, the ice spread like water and produced the shape of a long sword. "My ice can be strong-" she smacked it hard against the ground, and nothing happened. "-Or it can be weak-" she held the blade vertically with her left-hand, and with her right she punched the blade, causing the whole thing to shatter. "It's all in the wrist," Lavender smirked proudly.

"What element do you possess, Lily?" Sesshomaru ignored Lavender's display, which left her to pout at his back as he was facing Lily. In truth, the ability to create ice at will could prove to be very useful, but he would never show interest in Lavender. It is more fun to tease her than to make her happy.

"Well, Lavender's element is actually water." Lavender sent a glare her way. "Creating ice is her magic ability. My element is nature. I can control the wind, earth, and fire. I can also create electricity, which is my magic ability." She held out her left hand in front of Sesshomaru, and electricity began to cackle around her hand.

Behind Lily and Sesshomaru, Lavender was making her amazing 'pout-and-glare' face at them both. She did not like it when Lily would prove that she has more magical abilities. Lily noticed the look and sent a little spark of electricity over Sesshomaru's shoulder, and it snapped in front of Lavender's face, startling her.

Inuyasha, who was ignored by his three travel companions, gave up on trying to get Lavender's attention to show him more tricks, and he sat on a fallen tree trunk. He watched the little show of the twins glaring at each other, and Sesshomaru being bored. Not in the least bit entertaining for him, but he had nothing better to do. In the corner of his amber eye, he noticed a slight movement in the rubbish that surrounded them. "Uh..." Inuyasha looked to his idols, both of which started arguing in a foreign language, and then he looked to Sesshomaru, who also noticed the movement. "Hey, brother!" he hopped to the ground, and raced to Sesshomaru's side and protection. "What is that?"

Sesshomaru ignored the question, and continued watching. Something was trying to crawl out of the wreckage, but slowly. A small, webbed hand finally appeared from underneath a piece of wood. Its skin was a semi-transparent, purplish colour, and had long pink veins entwined along its silver-grey bones.

"Hey, Sesshomaru!" Lavender turned her attention to the demon lord. "What do you think is cooler, _my_ ability to freeze anything I lay my finger on, or _her_," she lazily pointed a finger in her sister's direction, who scowled. "Ability to create a tiny little spark?"

Sesshomaru began to walk towards the creature with steady, long strides. Lavender followed his gaze, and shrieked.

"That's so gross looking!" the creature's hand seemed to have trouble freeing its body. It was shuddering under the weight, and trying to wiggle free. "It reminds me of a worm..."

"Fascinating..." Lily followed Sesshomaru towards the creature. As they got closer, they noticed that the thing had very tiny arms, almost baby-like. Sesshomaru stopped a few feet away from it, and Lily stood at his side.

"Get away from it, you guys!" Lavender was ducking behind Inuyasha, who was watching intently. "You don't know what it can do! I have a bad feeling about it..."

"Lave... there's something about this thing, I've read a description of it in Cassandra's Diary..." she walked closer to the small looking creature. When she came within a few feet of it, it completely stopped moving, as if it finally sensed that there was someone nearby. Its semi-transparent, webbed fingers twitched a little. "The veins... and the skin... they're mentioned in her Diary..."

"What did Cassandra have to say about it, sis?"

"She said that they're a creation of Hiro. When the blood of a victim, with their own mixture of essence hits the ground, they grow into adults. Right now, this one is a baby, so it can't fight..."

"Why would this man create such a creature that is unable to fight, if fighting is the only way it can grow?" Sesshomaru grew interested with the subject. Only a powerful being could literally create a species. The creature started to try and lift the plank off its body in vain. Sesshomaru inwardly snickered at the pathetic attempt.

"It's like a ritual, it makes sure that only the strongest survive."

"In that case, there must be something up its sleeve," Lavender marched up to Lily, determined to keep her from harm's way. "I don't want you getting hurt by that thing, so stand back, kay?"

"I want to look at it some more, though..." Lily whined.

Lavender stood between her twin and the creature, and began to push Lily away from the debris that hid the living thing. "I said get out of here!"

Lily tried pushing back, and when she could not stop her sister, she sent slight shocks up her twin's arm, making her let go. "Don't push me around!" she huffed, and glared at her sister. "Fine! I'll stay away from it..."

"Good." she turned to face Sesshomaru, who was eyeing the creature. It was starting to be successful in wiggling the rubbish off its little back. "You too, milord, I think we should all stay away from it."

He did not budge. Of course not, he is the Lord of the Western Lands after all, why should he listen to some demon of lower ranks than him? "Sesshomaru?" Lavender stood directly in front of him. "I'm serious, Hiro was a shady guy, and he probably created something really dangerous..." Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at her comment, "even for you." Sesshomaru looked up and his body tensed. He roughly pushed Lavender behind him, and stood tall while watching the creature.

It started to grow; its fingers elongated, and there were no longer any webs between them. Its arms grew bulkier with gold, semi-transparent muscles. The debris on its back started to rise as the creature's body began to grow larger into an adult size, until the wreckage fell off it and the creature was fully visible.

The creature had a woman's body, with no facial features, and the back of its head was similar to a long cone bent downwards. It stood up in a defensive pose, flexing its golden muscles slightly, and its golden heart was beating steadily.

"Lil! I thought you said that it would only grow if their victim's blood hits the ground!" as she spoke, she quickly materialized a large sword of ice in her hands.

"Lavender..." Sesshomaru's voice was quiet and confused, as something caught his eye on Lavender's left ankle. There was a large trail of blood flowing down her leg staining her majestic white fur, and dripping slightly on the ground. There was also purple mixed in with her dark red blood. _How did I not sense it?_ Sesshomaru was starting to doubt his powers, until Lily spoke.

"How did it do that? Without us knowing it?" she was deep in thought. All she knew about the creature was that its essence was actually a chemical that could destroy a certain part of the human body. The only problem was that she did not know which part since Cassandra had never seen its effect. Her eyes started to tear up as she just fully realized that this chemical was in the body of the most important person in her life, her twin. "Oh my God, Lave!" She pulled her sister away from the creature and Sesshomaru, who now held his claws up allowing them to drip green with poison. "How are you feeling?"

"How the Hell did it cut me up without me even realizing it?" Lavender was extremely indignant. It hurt her pride knowing that a baby injured her. "I wanna know what hit me!" She finally bent down to inspect her wound, ignoring Lily who had her face in her hands, sobbing quietly. It hurt Lily knowing that the one time her twin was ever careful or worried about something, Lavender was right. And to top it off, Lily did not bother taking her twin seriously.

Lavender poked around in her cut, and noticed a fairly thick, black needle. She pulled it out easily, as though it was a small sliver. However, instead of feeling relief flow through her body when she usually pulled out a sliver, she felt unbearable pain in her ankle and calves. It was similar to a muscle cramp, but by far more painful. She could not even cry, all she did was bite her tongue, and let her hand hover above her left leg, afraid that if she touched it, it would hurt even more.

Sesshomaru was getting annoyed. He was not sure if he should attack the creature, in case Lily wanted it to stay alive, or if Lavender wanted petty revenge (which she did want. She would not let some baby hurt her pride and walk away unscathed!) The creature was just standing there, perfectly still, and if it had eyes Sesshomaru was positive that it would be looking at the twins behind him, and not him. Then Sesshomaru picked up the metallic scent of blood, and looked back to see Lily crouching behind Lavender with her hands on her twin's shoulders, and Lavender sitting on the ground with her left leg bleeding dark purple blood profusely from the wound in her ankle. His eyes widened because that was not where the sent was coming from. The blood he picked up was slowly leaking out of her mouth, because she was biting her tongue too hard. _Why can I not sense the sent of blood from her ankle?_ Sesshomaru stood frozen, fully aware of the motionless creature behind him, and the fact that violet blood stained the ground. He finally moved, and sat next to Lavender to inspect the cut.

"You must know of a cure, do you not?" he spoke to Lily without bothering to look up at her.

"Y-yeah... but I d-don't have it h-here... it's at h-h-home..." she was sobbing, and hating herself for not bringing the Diary with her.

Lavender let out a shrill shriek and her body began to twist in agony. Lily panicked and fell backwards into Inuyasha, who had found enough courage to inspect what the commotion was all about and was hiding behind Lily. Lavender tightly held onto Sesshomaru's arm, which started to feel icy cold due to her spiking powers. Sesshomaru did not want to have his arm completely frozen, so he lightly pushed Lavender's back to the ground, and pried her cold fingers off his arm.

"Get the book. She will not last long if you do not try to cure it," Sesshomaru's face held a look of calm control, but inside he was battling with himself. His stomach felt like it was doing flips, worried about Lavender's pain. _Why does Lavender's affect me as such?_

"K-kay..." Lily wiped her tears, and repeated the spell for the wormhole. When she made it wide enough, she gave one last look at her sister, and stepped through it. The wormhole vanished in seconds.

"_NOOO!_" Lavender began to panic, to her it felt as though a part of her vanished into thin air. The twins have such a connection, that the farther away they are from each other, the emptier they feel inside. Lily no longer existed in the time that she did, so to Lavender it feels as though a part of her also does not exist. "...Come back... Lily..."

Sesshomaru was not sure what to think. Her powers stopped spiking, the atmosphere around her was no longer icy, and she stopped squirming. The fact that her sister was not with her, made Lavender forget about the pain she was enduring, and only think about what may or may not be happening to Lily. The creature was still standing there, in the same defensive pose.

"Brother... what's wrong with Lavender?" Inuyasha crouched by Lavender's head, after she stopped twisting and turning.

Sesshomaru ignored him as usual.

"Sesshomaru! I really want to know!"

"Be quiet, and get back!" Sesshomaru said, or more like barked. "Can you not see she's in pain? Lavender does not need to listen to your pointless babble when she has other problems on her mind. Now _get_ _back!_"

Inuyasha silently stood up, and seated himself right in the middle of the circle of wreckage, where he entertained himself with the box they left behind after taking out the amulets. He hated it when his brother treated him like a child who can't handle anything. He was seriously worried about Lavender.

Sesshomaru, ever cautious of the creature that could strike them at any moment, wrapped his arms around Lavender's shuddering shoulders and pulled her into his lap. She nuzzled his abdomen, and she relaxed a little.

"Oh Sesshomaru..." Lavender's voice was barely audible because she was speaking through his clothes. "It hurts so much... I need Lily here... It feels like acid is eating away at the insides of my leg... and it's spreading too, it's in my thighs, and it hurts so much..." she wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'm trying so hard to be strong and not cry, but it hurts so much..." tears began to swell up in her eyes, and Sesshomaru's haori was soaking up with her tears.

Sesshomaru was happy to hear her speak, and realized that she was probably in some kind of shock earlier. He started to rub her back softly, thinking of all the times she did it for him as he stared at her black and white striped fur, letting his fingers relish in the soft, smooth texture of her fur. He still did not know why he enjoyed her attention, and it ate at him like no tomorrow, but he forgot about it now, just as he ignored the thoughts asking him why the Hell is he lowering himself so much as to touch such a low class demon as Lavender.

Lavender began taking deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves and pain. Every so often her breath would shudder as she thought about what could happen to Lily. _What if someone tires to rape her? What if she gets attacked by a crazed animal? What if she gets lost? What if she gets lonely, and I'm not there to be with her? _She had all kinds of thoughts running through her mind, inspired by scary movies, and even some of her own experiences.

A few minutes passed by with them in that position. Sesshomaru was holding her tightly, patting and rubbing her back. Lavender was still breathing deeply, but they grew more laboriously as the chemical spread throughout her body, slowly. Inuyasha was still playing with the box, too scared to even look in Sesshomaru's direction. And the creature was still standing there motionlessly, ready to defend itself.

The purple bordered, black wormhole finally appeared before them, with a very stressed looking Lily stepping out of it quickly. Her hair was ruffled at the top because of all the times she had tried to rip out her hair out of stress and frustration, and even her fur was dishevelled and less splendid looking.

"Lavender? How are you feeling?" Lily knelt down next to Lavender, and began to flip through the pages of the Diary.

"Not as bad as before, but I'm still in a Hell of a lot of pain..."

"Good..." Lily was just glad to hear her sister speak without the shrieks of pain, but then rethought what she just said. "Well, you feeling a little better is good, not the more pain thing..."

Lily finally found the entry about the strange creature, and skimmed the page to find the cure. "Ah ha!" her face lit up as her finger stopped two thirds down the page. "Cassandra says that 'according to my husband, the Beldoule' -that's what it's called, Beldoule- 'is composed of a sinister essence, which is even harmful to their own bodies. The only reason as to why they are able to survive their own essence is due to the fact that their hearts contain an antidote that neutralizes their essence inside their body. Without the heart, they cannot withstand the substance'. So to neutralize the chemical, Lavender needs to ingest its heart."

Just as Lily spoke her last word, the Beldoule quickly shifted into an offensive pose. Sesshomaru cautiously slid Lavender to the ground, and he stood up fully to face the creature. He was about to kill it and take its heart, but Lily stopped him.

"We shouldn't do anything until we know everything." Sesshomaru lowered his claws, but did not move, and kept his eyes directly upon the Beldoule. "Okay... we already know it grows when its victim's blood does blah, blah, blah... 'If its victim dies while the Beldoule is still alive, it will change its shape, and become a Felmorte. If it is killed, it will scatter millions of spores that will become infant Beldoules when they are awakened.'" Lily looked at her twin with lovingly caring eyes, and spoke to the back of Sesshomaru. "Take its heart... I'd rather be attacked by billions of those creatures than let Lavender suffer."

Sesshomaru wasted no time, and instantly lashed out at the creature with his poison whip. It dodged the attack with a graceful back flip, and stayed low as it landed. It extended its right arm, and bent its hand back so that it was perpendicular to its arm. Solid black bubbles started to form on its silver bone along its wrist, and a small dagger was materialized inside its arm, attached to the bone. The dagger shot straight out, towards its hand, and the creature flicked its wrist to catch the hilt of the blade. It stood up in an offensive pose with its newly formed dagger, and waited for Sesshomaru to attack.

He took the bait happily, and with great speed he charged towards the creature. It was not fast enough when it tried to slash Sesshomaru, and he grasped its arm with one hand, and with the other he plunged his claws into its chest, and pulled out its golden heart.

The Beldoule soundlessly fell to the ground, and its body dissipated leaving behind millions of spores in the form of black smoke, carried away by the wind.

"Thanks Sesshomaru..." Lily took the no longer beating heart, and pulled Lavender into her lap. "Here, Lave... Eat this." She held the heart to Lavender's mouth, who gingerly took a little nibble.

"SICK!" she sat up, and began spitting out the little bits of the heart she tore off. "What the Hell is this? It tastes like shit!" Then she fell back into her sister's lap, exhausted from the small amount of work she had just done.

"Eat it all, it'll make the pain go away..." Lily cooed as she stroked her sister's hair.

Sesshomaru knelt down next to her, trying very hard not to take her from Lily's lap, and into his own. His face was indifferent as he watched Lavender slowly eat the heart, grimacing after every bite. He had concluded that the reason why he could not sense Lavender's blood oozing from her ankle was because it was tainted with the chemical, probably changing, or hiding, the scent of blood. Meanwhile, Inuyasha stopped playing with the box, and watched the little scene from afar.

After a few minutes, Lavender finally devoured the antidote. She had a sour look on her face as she looked down at her wound, which was wrapped up in pieces of Sesshomaru's sleeve (Lavender already ruined it earlier, so it was garbage anyway).

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah..." Lavender smiled up at Lily, and Sesshomaru. When she did not see Inuyasha, she started panicking. "Where's the Little Guy? Where's my little Inuyasha!"

Little dog-ears twitched and turned, and the owner of them quickly stood up, and raced to Lavender's side. He latched himself around Lavender's waist, and stuffed his face into her stomach. "Sesshomaru didn't let me see you! He was being all mean and pushing me around! I was so worried about you! They didn't tell me what was going on!"

"Sesshomaru!" Lavender glared up at Sesshomaru, who in turn was shooting his own glares at Inuyasha. "He's just a little kid! Don't tease him! And why didn't you guys tell him anything? He deserves to know!" she softened her look when she faced Inuyasha, and gently stroked his ears. "Thanks for worrying about me... but you're too young to be worrying at all."

In response, he nodded his silver head, ruffling his hair against her body.

"_Lavender,_" Lily spoke to her twin in English, "_I think we should go back home so you can recuperate. If you strain your body, the amulet wont have enough energy to draw from, and you'll turn back into your human self._"

"_Okay... I don't want to end up under 'His' wrath if he finds out the truth..._"

"Sesshomaru, I think Lavender should come home with me, so she can heal better." Lily stood up, and created another wormhole. _I'm getting better at this... The amulet is pretty powerful, considering that I'm not even getting a headache..._ "We'll come back as soon as Lavender is well enough," she added after seeing the look he gave her. He was not happy that they were planning on leaving, especially since they owed him a certain something for helping them get their amulets. This time his emotion showed on his face; anger.

Lavender got up with the help of Lily, and Inuyasha watched sadly. He wanted her to go and get well, so he did not complain.

"Don't worry, Lord Sesshomaru," Lavender spoke softly and sweetly when she noticed his angry look. "We wont break our promise."

And with that, they disappeared, as well as the wormhole. _I should not have let them go..._ Sesshomaru turned his back on the spot so quickly, that he knocked Inuyasha over because he was standing too close to his big brother. It was purposely, but Inuyasha thought it was an accident. He quickly got up, and silently followed behind Sesshomaru.

**A/N:** Well, there's chappie 3. And, if someone reviews with a random word, they might just get a special treat at the beginning of my next update! Or, if you review with something bigger, you'll be on my hero-worshiping list! Right now, gothshadow is on the top of that very special list !

Anyways, stuff on this chappie: Sess and Lave may be developing a relationship quickly, but it's technically _not_ a relationship, more like a "wanna go make out?" relationship that you might have with a random person you just met, but are really hot. And I keep forgetting about Inuyasha... that's one reason why Sess keeps shoving him away, but that's not the only reason. See, Sess doesn't like Inu. Enough said. AND for my last comment, I'm trying to get rid of these beginning chappies because they're annoying me, so I've cut down what was originally 6 chaps to 4. The next chappie shall include... um... I don't feel like saying. You'll hafta read to find out! So, until next update... buh-byes!

"Beans"

PS: This chappie has officially been FIXED.


	4. So longs and New beginnings

**A/N:** I really wanted to get this chapter out of my way, so it might be rushed (in the sense that I'm trying to fit a lot into one chapter). That's about it... except... gothshadow gets a cookie! (gives cookie) And I don't really know why I love the word 'beans' so much... it must be from something funny...

PS: I'm sorry it took so long, I really wanted to get this done for the 17th, but I ended up writing too much, and couldn't get it done. Then I had school again, and my free time on the compy disappeared into thin air... (sigh) I'm saving up for a laptop, so in about two or three years, I will be able to write non-stop! (Two years? Uh... hopefully this'll be done by then... unless my story turns into a never-ending story... honestly, I don't know how to end this... oh well, I have everything else planned out, and it'll be a while before I get to the end, so I'll worry about that later...). So yeah, I'm terribly sorry for the wait, I feel bad because I thought I could get it done like, a long time a go, but I didn't... uu;...

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Inuyasha. But I do own... well... not much, except for Lily and Lavender, but I'd rather own Sesshomaru nn. Oh yeah, and I forgot about something else. The whole English in Italics idea came partly from what DeDeKitty did in her (and her co-writer's) story "The Tail of Two Inu" (an awesome SessxOC nn). It also came from the idea that I needed a way to show the difference in Japanese and English, and I don't think you guys wanna read random bolded dialogue. And, in this chapter (and the rest of the story) someone is introduced, and some people might be like "GASPIES! That's what Warm-Ice did in her story 'My Daughter'!" (My Daughter great story :D) but I'm not stealing ideas (cause I've had this story idea ever since I fell in love –I mean, liked Sesshomaru – from a few years back), and you'll notice there are quite a few... actually IMO there are many, differences. ON WITH THE STORY!

**Chapter 4: So longs and New beginnings**

Lavender was sitting next to Sesshomaru under the stars, dipping her feet in the sparkling stream under the light of the full moon. It had been a week of recovery for Lavender, back at home.

* * *

Hours earlier, Sesshomaru had picked up Lavender and Lily's scent after and he immediately rushed to meet them, leaving Inuyasha calling his name behind him. Lavender was back in perfect condition, and even her fur looked even more majestic and beautiful than before. However, as soon as Lavender noticed that Sesshomaru left Inuyasha behind to get to her, her fur stood on end, and she sprinted towards Inuyasha's frightened scent.

Lily shook her head in disapproval at Sesshomaru. "You'll never learn, will you?" she turned and sat at the base of a tree, with her knees together, and slanted them to the side with her tail resting in her lap. Lily was very elegant looking with her bright orange stripes, and also as if a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders. She pulled out a spell book, and continued to memorize every spell she possibly could. This time, she brought a tan, leather sac that could hold three of her books; the Diary, the first spell book, and also the second.

"She cares too much about Inuyasha, he's like a son to her," she looked up from her book, and gave Sesshomaru a hard look. He was narrowing his eyes in the direction Lavender had sprinted. "You're not... _jealous_... are you? About all the attention she gives him?"

"As if this Sesshomaru could ever be jealous of anything." He turned his back, trying to hide his anger. He was pretty upset when she left right away. _I am not jealous of anything... I have nothing to be jealous of._

"Well... I just thought that maybe you wanted to spend more time with her, instead of her rushing off to your little brother." she continued to read, ignoring Sesshomaru's 'humph'.

"Such matters do not concern me."

"Whatever you say..." She replied absent-mindedly.

Sesshomaru was not sure how to answer that, and instead decided to go for a 'walk'. He stopped at a nearby stream, and waited for Lavender to come to him.

It was already night when she finally came to him. She had been playing with Inuyasha for the whole day, making up for lost time. Lily finally told him it was bedtime, and, while complaining that he was not tired, he crawled up in her lap and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

After Lavender took off Sesshomaru's armour, she started to massage his back, but Sesshomaru pulled her arms away, and set her in the spot next to him.

"You are well rested, I presume."

"Yep... I feel as good as new!" she stretched her arms out, and took off her boots to let her feet soak in the water. "How about you?"

"It is not important."

"To you maybe, but it is to me." She pulled his chin to make him face her. "I think it's important... I want to know how you've been in my absence."

Sesshomaru hesitated. He did not have to answer her; she was still the same low class demon whose existence was not important. However, he found that he could not help but comply with her petty demands. "Fine."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Lavender waved her finger at him, and her tail waved at him from over her shoulder. "'Fine' is not a good answer. It means that you either don't want anyone to know the truth, or you yourself don't know how you feel."

"That is hardly the case..."

"You don't want me to know how you feel?" Lavender put on her best shocked and hurt face, and started to fake cry, even letting her eyes water up a bit for added affect.

Sesshomaru, after picking up the scent of tears, panicked slightly and placed his arm around her shoulders. "Lavender... I was worried about you. I was not sure if you would come back." He cursed himself for telling her the truth, and for even bothering to comfort her. She was not worth his time. Was she?

"Um..." Lavender could feel her face growing hot as she stared at the clawed hand placed on her shoulder, and thinking about what he just said made her feel like her face was on fire despite the fact that her fur hid her blush. "You were worried about me?"

She turned her face towards Sesshomaru's, and he inwardly smiled at the sweet, innocent look on her face. Then he smirked, "only a little."

Her face brightened up, and she threw her arms around his neck, resting her head on his chest. "That's good enough for me."

They stayed in the same position until she fell asleep, and Sesshomaru carried her back to camp.

----

The twins stayed with Sesshomaru and Inuyasha for two weeks. The girls would leave for home every few days for half the day, and they always came back. They would just say that they promised to see their family and friends, when in reality they were recuperating from staying transformed for too long. The amulets were designed to awaken hidden power, and to give them a stronger body with enhanced mana. They weren't supposed to be used all day, everyday. Of course, Sesshomaru was not supposed to know that.

Sesshomaru often thought about the reward they promised to give him, the one that would grant him full immortality, and give him magical powers like Lily. The more time he spent with them, the more he wanted the magic. He never brought up the subject with them, because he was actually afraid that they would leave if they gave him his 'reward', and he did not want that because the two girls were the only people in all of Japan that he could actually consider friends, rather than servants, or peasants, or anyone else who may serve under him. Not that he openly called them friends, but deep inside that was how he felt. There was no way to deny it. He had not had a friend since the day his best friend was murdered when he was still very young.

Most of the time, when Lavender was not playing with Inuyasha, they would spar with each other. Lavender was a challenge to Sesshomaru in her demonic form. In fact, she was almost equal to him. Her speed matched his, but her strength did not. However, she made up for it by having greater defensive power than him. She could slowly put down his defensives, while he had to work harder to bring down hers.

When Lily trained, he did not want to have any part of it. He watched the first time with Lily and Lavender, and that was enough to keep from training with her. In her demonic form, she could perform spells in split seconds, and it was always one after another. Lavender could never get close enough to attack her sister, who was constantly tossing balls of energy, fire, moving the earth, and blowing her twin away. Her electricity would always hit the mark, and Lavender would always come out of the battle with her fur on end, which would stay that way until she soaked herself in water. Sesshomaru did believe that he could do better than Lavender, but just in case, he would not try. He did not want to look like Lavender after Lily finished with her.

-----

Four days since the twins returned, Lavender became very excited because she figured out how to 'de-grow' her fur. Sesshomaru was not very impressed, because when Lavender 'de-grew' her fur, she was simply transforming into her humanoid form.

"Watch this, Sesshomaru!" Lavender closed her eyes, and her fur began to retract into her skin, as well as her tail. Her body was covered in black stripes, like tattoos, but everything else about her was like a normal human.

"Fascinating." Sesshomaru was bored, and it showed in his voice. He found that it was easy to show at least a little emotion to Lavender, because for some reason it did not bother her. Anyone else would probably stare at him dumbfoundedly and would not know what to do. But with Lavender, it was as natural as breathing.

"C'mon! I could never do this before!" Lavender's bubble was burst, and she began to sulk.

"It is only your humanoid form. Many demons are capable of it, such as myself."

"I thought this-" she re-grew her fur, "-is my humanoid form, and this-" all of a sudden, her body began to glow bright white, and her body transformed into that of a majestic, white tiger, standing on all fours. When she remembered that she could not talk, but instead speak in a series of growls, she transformed back into her normal state, "-is my demonic form."

Sesshomaru's eyebrows were raised in slight surprise when she finished, "you never told me that you were capable of that."

"Well... it didn't seem all that important..." she shrugged. "This is my more comfortable form anyways." She 'de-grew' her fur and tail, and linked arms with Sesshomaru. "We should go for a walk," and she pulled him away from the little clearing they were standing in.

They were walking in silence, arm in arm. However, Sesshomaru was quite tense. He was worried to be found in such a way by a demon of high class. Well, he was the highest-ranking demon in his land, there weren't many others close to his rankings, but he still could not help but think 'what if'. When the bushes nearby rustled, Sesshomaru quickly flicked his wrist, and his poison whip killed the creature trying to threaten them. They continued on as if nothing happened.

It was well past midnight, and the two were quite a ways away from the camp. Lavender was about to say that they should start heading back, until she heard the sound of a waterfall.

"Oooo! I wanna go see the waterfall!" Lavender let go of Sesshomaru, and started to run towards the sound while calling back to Sesshomaru with a smile, "C'mon! Race me!"

Sesshomaru complied, and sprinted ahead of her. She picked up speed, but was soon running directly behind him, while dodging trees, and threatening roots. When Sesshomaru stopped, Lavender collided with his back because of her lack of reaction.

"Owwie..." she rubbed her head, and looked around the area they found. There was a small cliff, at about the height of a small house, with a stream running down it. There were many large boulders at the base of the cliff that were poking out at the top of the surface, creating the perfect stepping-stones. After the water landed at the base of the cliff, it filled a little pool of water, and continued to move downhill into a stream. Lavender hopped on the boulders, and jumped from one to another, trying to avoid the sparkling water.

"This is so beautiful, Sesshomaru! We should come here again and again and again," she stopped to admire the stream that was glistening in the moonlight. Lavender suddenly held the night in a whole new respect. It was peaceful, quiet, solitary, beautiful, and she spends all her nights with Sesshomaru, which makes them all the more enjoyable.

As Lavender took a step on the next boulder, she slipped on a wet spot, and fell backwards into the waterfall while shrieking "_SESSHOU-! Ow..._"

Sesshomaru rushed to her side in a second. He found her sitting on the edge of a cool, dark cave behind the waterfall, rubbing her head with a sour look on her face. Ignoring her complaints, and something about 'suing somebody', he looked around. There was another little pool of water inside the cave, where water was leaking in from the ceiling. It looked man-made, and Sesshomaru figured it was probably the hiding place for something. It was so small that he just had give the place one glance to see if there were anything hidden there. There was nothing hidden, and the place seems quite unused.

"WOW!" Lavender finally recovered from her slight fall, and took a look around. "This can be our secret place, Sesshomaru!" she looked up at him with beaming eyes.

He shrugged and sat at the base of the far wall. Lavender followed him, and sat on his left.

"This is a nice place, isn't it?"

"I suppose," Sesshomaru replied. "That is, if you are interested in dark caves and dirt."

"You don't like it? That's too bad... I think it's beautiful..." she sighed in contentment, and leant against his shoulder. She thought for a long moment, until finally decideding no was a good a time as any. "Now is probably a good time to give you your gift..." _Yep... a beautiful gift for a beautiful person in a beautiful place_ she thought contently.

Sesshomaru's eyes widened, and his heartbeat started to quicken its pace. Lavender sat up straight, and put her hands above her heart. She closed her eyes, and started to concentrate. After a few moments, she began to bring her hands forward, and in them was an object made of crystal. When she opened her palms, Sesshomaru saw that the object was in the shape of a perfectly symmetrical heart.

"Um... I just want to ask you one thing..." Lavender looked him in the eye. "Promise me you wont use it?"

Sesshomaru furrowed his brow. Why would he take it if he could not use it? Lavender elaborated. "It has... side effects. What those are aren't important, all you need to know is that they're not fun side effects. But don't worry it will still be useful. It kind of has a mind of its own, so if you are ever in mortal danger then it will be the most valuable and useful item in your possession."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow. "This Sesshomaru will never be in such a situation."

"Never say never. You can never know what will happen in the future, (unless you somehow came from the future, and therefore know what's gonna happen, which we all know is impossible!)" Lavender let out a small, nervous laugh, then continued as if nothing happened. "Also, in situations where mana is involved, this crystal heart can help you out. And last but not least, it can pure any heart, or make it _seem_ pure... one of the two, I haven't figured it out yet... I think it has to do with the Daiya blood in it. Us Daiyas seem pure to the eye of a priest, or whatever... but in reality, we can be devilish little things!" Lavender gave a low dark laugh to add to the effect of 'evil'.

Sesshomaru watched as the light shining through the waterfall danced on the crystal. It was the size of Lavender's palm. It seemed to be a very important item to her, and he was not sure if he should accept it. However, if he did not, then it could possibly hurt her feelings.

"Here, face me."

Sesshomaru turned towards her, and crossed his legs beneath him, and she did the same.

"This is how it works. Since I don't want you to use it, I'll put it in the one place you can't reach it. I will be able to get it though, because I was the one to use it and put it there. It's like it has amazing memory, it knows I'm the one controlling it, so it will only come out for me. So, here we go."

Lavender placed her two palms with the crystal in them on Sesshomaru's chest, at his heart. She closed her eyes, and pushed with her hands. Instead of feeling the force of being pushed back, Sesshomaru stood still as the crystal sank into his body, and her hands stopped at his solid chest.

"There." Lavender looked up at him, with her eyes shinning, and her hands still on his muscular chest. "It's wrapped around your heart now, and it will keep it beating strong forever..."

Sesshomaru could not tell if it was happiness, sorrow, or pain he saw shinning in her eyes, all he knew was that it was the most beautiful look she ever gave him, and he wanted her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders to pull her closer, and gave her light kiss on the top of her forehead. Lavender felt the moisture, and wanted more of his lovely kisses, so she tilted her head upwards, and shyly kissed his lips.

When she pulled back, she noticed the surprise on his face, and clumsily rushed out of his arms in embarrassment to the farthest wall of the cave, hiding her ruby red face. This time, because of her furless state, Sesshomaru could see her blushing madly.

Sesshomaru chuckled softly, just loud enough for Lavender to hear. She was not sure if she should yell at him for laughing, or be even more embarrassed. As she tried to figure out what to do, Sesshomaru started sneaking up on her from behind. He took hold of her waist, startling her, and kissed the base of her neck.

Lavender shivered in his arms, and leaned back against him. He continued to kiss her neck, her shoulder, and her cheek. All the while his hands were moving up and down her abdomen, and sides. He was finally repaying her for all the massages she gave him up until now. He could hear, and feel her heart beat quickening, and started to try and remove her haori and feel her legs, until Lavender felt too scared to go on. She jumped out of his arms as if she got an electric shock, and without even looking back she sprinted back to camp.

When Sesshomaru got back after her, she was already lying down next to Lily and Inuyasha in her normal tigress state, but her heart beat was so rapid that it was obvious that she was not asleep. Lavender never had much luck when it came to men and love, so naturally Sesshomaru's advances frightened her greatly.

"I had the impression that that was what you wished for," he spoke to her back, knowing that she could very well hear him. "I suppose I was wrong. We will wait until you are ready." he paused and, almost worriedly, added an afterthought. "Unless... you do not wish to be with this Sesshomaru..."

Lavender took a few moments to respond, and when she did she turned to face the stars, and watched Sesshomaru out of the corner of her eye. "I... do wanna be with you... I'm just scared, that's all..."

"You do not have to be frightened of me."

* * *

Whenever Sesshomaru and Lavender would take 'walks' alone, they always found themselves at their little waterfall with the hidden cave. Each time Sesshomaru's hands would roam her body, and he would kiss it too. He loved it when Lavender 'de-grew' her fur. He could feel the soft tenderness of her skin, and it would still leave behind the patterns of stripes, which he would lightly trace with his claws sending shivers up her spine every time. It was erotic to see her arch her back, shiver and moan just because of one little touch.

Each day she would let him probe deeper and deeper under her haori, and unveil a little more of her body to him. And each day, Sesshomaru found himself thinking more and more about how his life would be if he picked her as a mate.

Before he found Inuyasha, he was courting many women. There was basically a pack of them outside of his castle doors. He hated them all though, because they were boring, deceitful, gold-diggers, and whores. Lavender never seemed to show any sign of wanting his power, and the fact that she acted like a virgin (which Sesshomaru could tell from her scent that she in fact was not a virgin), was enough proof to show that she was no whore. Also, she was in no way boring, the last few weeks were the most enjoyable few weeks he has had in a very long time. Sesshomaru did not however think about Lavender being deceitful. There were so many mysteries surrounding her still, and he did not like the thought of her lying to him. Besides, being with her made him easily forget about it.

Having her for a mate would certainly mean having a strong heir. She and Sesshomaru spent plenty of time sparing with each other, and Lavender's powers grew exponentially. It was if she was always an amazing, high-class demon, but simply needed to be reunited with her demonic powers to become as great as before. With their strengths combined, they could create one amazing child.

Lavender was also an easy person to get along with, so at least the other lords and generals would be happy with her. Although, she is too outgoing for a Lady, but that was something they could work on, and she would only have to act Lady-like when important people are nearby. That is all assuming Lavender would agree to be Sesshomaru's mate, and assuming he would ask.

* * *

They spent the entire last week and a half in each other's company (except for the few hours in which the twins would visit home to recuperate). Even Inuyasha was sometimes ignored by his mother figure, Lavender. She was usually lost in her own world thinking about Sesshomaru, and wondering if she could let herself go all the way with him. He certainly seemed to want to, what with all the attention she was receiving from him. It was something she wanted too, but was afraid. Afraid that she would not be as pleasurable as any other demoness he has been with, or how he would treat her. She eventually decided that she would never know the truth about either of her fears, unless she confronted them. At least, that was her story. Sure she was still a little fearful, but the lust she felt for Sesshomaru was a little too strong.

Lavender and Sesshomaru were sitting at the back wall of the their secret, waterfall, cave, watching the moonlight glitter in the water. Sesshomaru began to rub her shoulders, and kiss the tip of her ear, tickling her and sending chills down her spine.

She started giggling, telling him to stop because it was too ticklish, but he would not let up so easily. When Lavender tried to get away to get a breather from him, he pinned her down by lying on top of her, and holding her hands above her head while continuing to kiss and blow in her ear.

"Okay!" Lavender was now wiggling under him, trying to escape or make him stop, but he would not let her go. "Ha ha ha ha! Stop it, Sesshomaru-he he he... I'm serious! Ha ha... STOP!"

Sesshomaru lifted his head, and looked at Lavender's red and smiling face. As she took a breather, they did not let their eyes leave each other, and they did not bother to move from their position.

"Um... Sesshomaru..." Just after her face cooled down, the thought of what she was going to bring up next made her cheeks don on more of a slight hue. "I think I'm ready... If you know what I'm... talking about."

Sesshomaru nodded his head softly, and he passionately kissed her lips, all the while he was holding her hands above her head still. When he pulled back, he nuzzled her neck, and rested his head on her tense shoulder. "I do not understand why you are so tense and so worried."

"Don't mind me... This is the first time I have ever wanted to make love with someone, and the first time it was with someone I actually... love..." Lavender bit her lower lip as she waited for Sesshomaru's response.

He rose to look her in the eye with the most caring expression she had ever seen on his face before. She had seen a much more caring look in many other people, but on Sesshomaru, it was a beautiful sight, and something to cherish. That was a good enough response to her, and she lifted her head as high as her flexibility allowed her what with her arms being pinned to the ground above her head, and kissed his forehead.

"I will be gentle..." Sesshomaru whispered. Her response was a shy smile, and then a look of exciting surprise as he slowly began to take off their clothes. He kissed her softly, and touched her softly, just like he promised.

* * *

When Lavender woke up, she found herself tangled up in Sesshomaru's boa, and his arms. She had transformed back into her normal, fury form sometime in the night, and found that her tail was tightly wound around his bare legs, and his clawed hands were entwined in the fur on her belly. His head was resting in the crook of her neck; resting there as if that was the only place it could ever belong.

Lavender silently yawned, and fully stretched her body out. As soon as she finished her morning ritual, she held the fluffy boa closer to her body, and fell back asleep. Sesshomaru, who was jerked awake by the sudden movement, stood up to find his clothes. He found his hakama, and armour, but both of his haoris were being used as sheets to sleep on.

"Lavender, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open beautifully, and she lazily watched Sesshomaru with her solid blue eyes. "Good morning."

He nodded at her, and brought her own haori to her. "I suggest you get back to your sister and Inuyasha." he helped her put on her clothes, as she was too lethargic to try doing it herself. "They are probably worried about you."

"Okay." She slowly stood up, and walked to the edge of the cave, just before the waterfall. Trying not to get wet, she exited by the far right, where there was a slight gap between the water and rock. Just before she completely disappeared from Sesshomaru's view, she stuck her head out and blew him a kiss, then skipped away back to camp. Sesshomaru picked up his outer and inner haoris, noticed the severe dirt stains on them, and decided to take a quick trip to his castle to replace them.

Inuyasha was still asleep when she reached the camp, despite the fact that there were only a few hours left before noon. Lily was sitting behind him, stifling a huge yawn that threatened to escape her mouth.

"He woke up," Lily explained. "He saw that you and Sesshomaru weren't here, so he couldn't fall back asleep. We played a bunch of games, and he just fell back asleep an hour ago." This time she just let the yawn out; too tired to try and stop it.

"Hmm... He's a cutie..." Lavender gave Inuyasha's sleeping form a little smile, and turned to Lily with a sly smirk. "So... Guess what."

"You... slept with... Sesshomaru?" Lily stated while feigning a look of concentration.

"Hey! Don't do that! Stay outta my head!"

"Calm down you spaz... even if I couldn't pick up the signals from your mind, the fact that you told me about the 'fondling' and that stupid grin on your face would give you away..." Lily waved her sister away with one hand, and with the other she covered her mouth because of another yawn. "Man, I am so not a night person..."

Lavender was sitting and sulking because her sister was not interested in her new advancement with Sesshomaru. Lily felt slightly bad, so she continued the conversation. "I hope you used birth control, right? Didn't you say you were going to get the 'pill' to help... do... whatever it was you needed? Hormonal-imbalance of some kind?"

"Um... well... no," Lavender replied shyly. She actually did want to get the 'pill' to help with said reason, however she was just far too lazy to bother getting it on their trips back home.

"What? That's not good, what if you actually get pregnant?" Lily wagged her finger at her sister.

"Then I'd be... happy..." Lavender blushed madly, and turned her attention to the ever-amazing ground.

"'Happy'? You'd be 'happy' to be a 16-year-old mother?"

"I'm turning 17 at the end of the month!"

"Yeah, and so am I, but that's not the point. The point is, Mom and Dad would kick you out of the house if you had a baby, so maybe those kinds of thoughts aren't very good ones."

"They're our foster-parents, and they hate me anyways. I'm supposed to be the 'bad' child, remember?"

"Whatever... And even if you are pregnant, staying transformed would probably deform the baby somehow... So I wouldn't _try _having a baby, okay?"

"What do you mean?" Lavender looked at her sister with wide-eyes.

"I mean, the constant changing of your body would probably stress out a baby, not that you're having one."

"But what if I am?" she still looked at her sister with wide-eyes and she seriously started to become scared.

"Then get an abortion..."

"No! I..." she looked over at Inuyasha, and smiled to herself. _I'm probably being pretty stupid, huh?_ "I kind of want to get pregnant..."

"WHAT!" Lily cracked her neck when she snapped her head to look directly at Lavender.

"I love taking care of Inuyasha, and in a place like this, it's normal to have a baby at this age, and sometimes even earlier. So, if we lived here..."

"Remember what I said about how love doesn't come so quickly? Well the same goes with moving in with people!" Lavender prepared herself for Lily's incoming lecture. "You don't just ask to move into some guy's home after you know him for a few weeks. Usually it takes like six months, or a year to do that!"

Lily continued on about how you need to know someone for a certain length of time to do certain things with them. In the meantime, Lavender was thinking about what Lily said about the transformations. What if she did get pregnant, and didn't know until it was too late, and the baby would already be affected by it? Making up her mind, she quickly places her forefinger and index on the centre of her chest, and concentrated so the amulet would appear around her neck like a necklace, then pulled it off. After the chain was completely off her neck, her body glowed white and the powers sealed themselves in the amulet again.

Sesshomaru, who was always aware of Lavender, no matter where he is, sensed the sudden change into human form, and sped towards her thinking she was in trouble.

"What are you doing?" Lily pointed at the amulet, and raised her eyebrows.

"I'm being safe."

"Well, it seems like you're being stupid." Lily crossed her arms, "Sesshomaru doesn't like humans, so what makes you think he'd be happy to come back and see you like that?"

"Well, I think he's been a lot better towards humans lately," Lavender said in an as-a-matter-of-fact sort of tone. "He is even nicer to Inuyasha. Like that time he let the Little Guy hide under his pelt when we were playing hide-n-seek the other day."

"I don't know..." Lily furrowed her brow. Sesshomaru was a silent, cold-hearted, killer to her, and people like that don't change so quickly.

"Trust me, it wont matter to Sesshomaru." She smiled to herself after thinking about the night they just had together. _He might not have said it, but actions do speak louder than words. I think he does love me._ She blushed at the last thought.

"I guess we'll find out soon, 'cause here comes Sesshomaru now..." Lily cringed as if it was the end of the world, and Lavender stood up happily to greet him. Inuyasha snorted in his sleep, and rolled over on his stomach, unaware of the impending argument.

"What happened, Lavender?" Sesshomaru quickly glanced at her now human form, and looked into her dark brown eyes hoping that it was nothing terrible, like Lavender being stuck in her human form forever.

"Nothing... But, I think it's about time we told you something."

_We? What do 'we' have to say, Lavender?_ Lily thought, worried about what she might say that could put her life in danger.

"See, we're not demons, Sesshomaru..." his body tensed slightly. "We're humans, humans with magical powers."

Sesshomaru stayed silent for a few moments, and then spoke with a low, commanding voice. "That is what I have been sensing in your auras, the aura I could not place was your human blood mixed with magic powers?" he stood motionlessly, and emotionlessly, making Lavender believe that it was not a problem to him. To her, no reaction was always a good sign. It meant he was neutral.

"Yeah, that's right." She smiled at him happily, thinking of how great it would be if they lived together and had a kid. "It's not a big deal, right?"

"I, Sesshomaru, the Lord of the Western lands, in the company of humans is not a big deal to you?"

Lavender shook her head no. Lily shook her head at her sister for her insolence.

"Well, that is quite the loss for you, for I believe it is a serious problem, and one that must be corrected immediately."

"Huh? What do you mean?" That was not what Lavender had expected. He was supposed to accept her.

"Leave my lands at once, before I change my mind on letting you free, and kill you instead."

"Kill us? You wouldn't!" Lavender's eyes started to tear up, but she tried hard not to let a single tear fall.

"C'mon Lave, let's leave." Lily lightly tugged on Lavender's sleeve.

"No!" she yanked her arm away from Lily, and firmly stood her ground in front of Sesshomaru, when inside she felt like her entire world was crumbling beneath her. "How can you do that? We... we..." her voice broke off, unable to finish her sentence because of the tears that were quickly running down her cheeks. At that moment, she looked like a helpless child who did not know what to do.

"That has nothing to do with the situation at hand. You have lied to this Sesshomaru, and you will be punished, just as I said before." Sesshomaru kept his face devoid of emotion, not showing any of the anger and disappointment he felt at the moment. Not to mention the betrayal. "Leave, or I will kill you."

"But I l-love you, Se-Sesshomaru... I don't w-want to leave..." She looked down, and allowed her tears of freely fall onto the ground like a waterfall.

"'Love' is a pathetic human emotion."

Lavender looked up at Sesshomaru with sad eyes. So he could never love her, and to him she was just a toy? "I see."

"I will not repeat myself again."

"Let's go Lave." Lavender turned and started walking out of the camp area, following Lily.

"You are nothing more than every other deceitful whore that roams my land." Sesshomaru added to her back. His comment made Lavender stop in her tracks.

"Is that so?" Lavender did not bother to face him, letting him imagine the look of distorted rage on her face. "AND YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THAN EVERY OTHER DECEITFUL PERVERT, JACKASS, AND MONSTER THAT ROAMS THE _EARTH_!" She screamed at the tops of her lungs, waking up Inuyasha from his slumber, and giving Sesshomaru a splitting headache. Lavender sprinted away into the forest with Lily trying to hold in a chuckle. She always loved to hear men put down in loud, attention-grabbing scenes. Inuyasha, upon seeing the twins running into the forest, did the first thing that came to mind: follow them.

"Wait! Lily, Lavender, where are you going?" Inuyasha was huffing and puffing trying to catch up to them. When they finally stopped for him, Lily turned to him. "We're going home, but for a long time, okay?"

"Aww..." Inuyasha gave his best puppy-dog eyes, hoping to make them change their minds. "I don't like it when you leave, Sesshomaru is no fun..."

"We have to..." Lily gave him an apologetic smile.

"Fine... but only if you visit real soon." He looked at Lavender, who kept her back to him, and did not bother to notice the human state she was in. "Okay, you two?"

"Inuyasha... We're not-" Lily tried to tell him that they had to leave for good, but Lavender interrupted her.

"Of 'course we'll visit," she still had her back to him, afraid that she might cave and bring Inuyasha with them if she looked at him. "But we don't know when... is that okay? It could be a long time..."

"Well... I guess... as long as you see me sometime, then I wont be mad at you." He giggled and smiled at Lavender.

"See ya later, Little Guy." She glanced at Inuyasha over her shoulder, and gave him a small smile while Lily readied the wormhole. When it was complete, Lavender quickly stepped through without another glance.

"She doesn't want to leave you, Inuyasha." Lily explained when she noticed the confused frown on his face. "Bye, and take care of yourself. Don't let Sesshomaru push you around, okay?"

"Okay!" Inuyasha smiled as Lily disappeared with the wormhole. When he sensed Sesshomaru coming, he let out a small sigh, and waited for his big brother to come and get him.

* * *

_200 years later..._

Inuyasha and his gang were sitting at the Well in Inuyasha's forest, deciding on where to go next to find Naraku and waiting for Kagome. There was no sign of the evil half-demon, and Inuyasha was getting angry at the fact that once again, Naraku has found a new hiding place, leaving behind no clues for them to follow.

Sango was petting Kirara, and Miroku was watching. One was thinking about what they should do, the other thinking about the beauty before his eyes. Shippo was hanging over the edge of the Well, waiting for Kagome to come back.

"Inuyasha, what's taking her so long?" he asked, obviously very bored of the conversation they were just having that was going nowhere fast. They needed Kagome to help them concentrate, and somehow their best ideas came when she was with them. Kagome was the glue that held their little group together.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Inuyasha barked. "She's probably got one of those stupid tests of hers..."

As if on cue, the Well began to glow an eerie blue, and Kagome appeared at the bottom. "YAY! KAGOME'S BACK!" Shippo jumped into the Well, and was caught by Kagome.

"Hey Shippo! I have some treats for you!"

When she was fully out of the Well, the group gathered together and watched as Kagome pulled out many different treats for everyone. When they received their lollipops, chips, soda pop, and ramen, Kagome showed them a letter she received from her mother.

"It's addressed to you, Inuyasha." Kagome handed him the envelope with the finely printed characters with the green coloured ink. He ripped the little happy-face sticker that sealed the envelope, and unfolded the letter inside of it.

"Why don't you read it out loud, Inuyasha?" Miroku suggested. The characters on the envelope were very feminine looking, and he was curious to know what it was about (him, of course, thinking it was some kind of love letter).

"Okay," Inuyasha cleared his throat, and read the letter out loud to the group. "'_Dear Inuyasha, I am writing this letter to you because my mother only knows how to speak Japanese, not read or write it. I took lessons as soon as I could, and I know a bunch of different languages, Japanese being my favourite because it's my dad's language._'" Inuyasha stopped reading aloud, and narrowed his eyes. "It's just a bunch of junk. I just wanna know who sent it!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome's threatening voice was enough to make Inuyasha believe he might be 'sat' any moment. "Read the whole thing, it would be impolite not to."

"Fine, fine... '_Anyway, my mom wanted to tell you that she wanted to see you and you're brother again-_' what does Sesshomaru have to do with this?"

"Just keep reading!"

"Shut up! I'm going to, stupid!" Inuyasha and Kagome shared a brief moment of exchanging glares, and he continued. "'_She said that she and my aunt would not see you until Sesshomaru reads the letter, and you two are together when they come. She also says that she is very sorry for taking so long to visit, and that she hopes you won't hate her when she comes. AND she has a surprise for you and your brother that you guys might like, a lot. It has to do with a dead person, but I'm not supposed to say who it is_.' a dead person? How am I supposed to be happy about a dead person..."

"Yeah, no kidding... There are too many problems involving the dead." Kagome said, while thinking about Kikyo. She quickly glanced up to see if anyone noticed what she meant, and saw that Miroku, Shippo, and Sango all shared pitying looks concerning her love life, but Inuyasha had an angry look.

"Yeah, the Shichinintai were such a pain in the ass..." Kagome sighed after realizing that Inuyasha was thinking along different lines.

"Inuyasha, finish the letter," Miroku was the one to set Inuyasha back on track this time. "Just finish the whole thing and we will probably find out what all of this is about."

"You guys are impatient... Okay, where was I? Oh, right, 'S_o here's what you have to do: let your brother read the letter, and stay with him until we get there. Can you do that? I heard that as brothers you two don't get along very well'_-"

"That's an understatement..." Kagome quietly said to herself, but of course Inuyasha heard her.

"SHUT UP!"

"Don't tell me to 'shut up', Inuyasha!"

"I wouldn't have to if you would just keep your mouth SHUT!"

"Kagome just gets back, and they're already at each other's throats..." Sango's sudden comment made them quiet down, and Inuyasha finished the rest of the letter.

"'_But that's okay because siblings, like my mom and aunt, fight a lot too. Well, that's about it, and I hope to meet you soon, Inuyasha. My mom told me so much about you, and they're all good things. She and my aunt want to see you before they talk to your brother because they said that you are far more important. I was told to stress that you are better than your brother, but I'm sure that both of you are okay. I always believe on even footing when it comes to meeting people for the first time. So, we'll come by as soon as you meet up with your brother. See you soon!_' That doesn't answer any questions."

"Wait Inuyasha," Shippo pointed to his discovery on the back of the letter. "It's a post script and it says '_By the way, my name is Saria. I wrote this for my mom, Lavender, and my aunt Lily_.'"

Inuyasha's eyes widened at the mention of Lavender and Lily. "They... remembered their promise... after so many years... Heh, Lavender was right when she said it might be a long time..." Inuyasha had a slightly glazed look on his faces as he thought. _How did Kagome's mother get a hold of this?_ His eyes widened, when he realized where they were from. _They're from Kagome's era! It would explain how easily they were able to leave the West._

The other's stared at him, waiting for him to bring them up to date with the information on who these people were.

"Ahem," Miroku cleared his throat. "Do you plan on enlightening us with the details of these two women?"

"Yeah, how do you know about people from modern times?" Kagome posed a good question, one that Inuyasha did not know the answer to.

"Let's find Sesshomaru," and immediately he bolted from is spot, and started running towards the West.

"Now that's something I never thought I'd hear Inuyasha say." Sango whispered to Miroku, who nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes, we must prepare for an upcoming battle."

"YOU PEOPLE ALWAYS SEEM TO FORGET THAT I HAVE EXTREMELY SHARP HEARING!" Inuyasha screamed at them from the limb of a tree that was several yards away.

Miroku sighed, and ran after him. Kagome, Sango, and Shippo followed them on Kirara.

* * *

From his spot in the shade under a tree, Sesshomaru watched as the little girl, with the lopsided, ebony ponytail, splashed in the stream. She was chasing fish in the direction of his retainer, who was trying to catch them.

"Jaken! You have to be quicker than that!" the little girl called out. She was laughing and having a carefree time as she and Jaken tried to catch her dinner.

"I'm going as fast as I can, Rin!" Jaken yelled back. He was getting frustrated from chasing fish around for a few minutes too long. The little imp hopped to and fro with his hands in the water, and slipped on a rock causing him to fall face first in the stream.

Rin shrieked, afraid that Jaken might have actually hurt himself, but when he stood up he was holding a fish in his little hands.

"Look, Rin! I got one!" he had a huge smile plastered on his face while holding up a small fish in triumph.

"That's wonderful, Master Jaken!" Rin clapped her hands together, smiling, but stopped as soon as Jaken let the fish wiggle free by accident. "Aww... you lost it..."

"It wasn't my fault! It was becau- what is it milord?" the sudden alertness of Sesshomaru caught his attention, and he changed the subject.

"Unwanted visitors." Sesshomaru stood up, facing the direction that Inuyasha and his friends were coming from.

"Who's coming, Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked innocently, but instead of Sesshomaru answering her, Jaken took the chance to yell at her.

"Don't you know anything? It is Sesshomaru-sama's younger half-brother, Inuyasha, and his pesky friends!"

"How am I supposed to know who it is if I don't have the same powers as you?" Rin replied indignantly.

"SESSHOMARU!" Inuyasha came bounding into the little camp, with Miroku running behind him, and Kagome, Sango and Shippo on Kirara. Inuyasha kept his distance from Sesshomaru, as if he would catch a disease, and Miroku stood panting close by. Sango, Shippo and Kagome had their attention half on the conversation that was about to begin, and half on the little human girl standing next to Sesshomaru.

_It's that girl with Sesshomaru... _Kagome thought, _maybe now I can find out what she's doing with him._

"Little brother, what brings you here?" he was upset. Of course he was, he wanted nothing to do with Inuyasha, especially in _his_ camp where _he_ was trying to relax.

Inuyasha flung the envelope to Sesshomaru, who caught it between his index and middle fingers. He tossed it to Jaken, who opened it for him and handed it back. As Sesshomaru's eyes scanned the letter, his face was emotionless the entire time. When Sesshomaru looked back at Inuyasha, a thin eyebrow raised, he pointed at the back of the letter. When Sesshomaru saw Lily and Lavender's names, his eyes widened slightly.

_How is it possible for two humans to live for as long as two hundred years? Lavender has kept even more information than I had expected her to keep from me. _"Very well." Sesshomaru took his original spot at the base of the tree. "I expect you to be quiet and well behaved in my presence, little brother." Sesshomaru, obviously, did not wish to be in Inuyasha's presence, however f it would bring the twins to him, he might as well go along with it. There were some questions he wanted answered.

"HEY!" Inuyasha started yelling at his brother, obviously not liking the fact that he was trying to order him around. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TELLING ME HOW TO-"

"Sit." Kagome was not ready for a fight to break out, and decided it was best to stop Inuyasha before he tried something stupid.

"What was that for!" the soft ground that his face was planted into muffled Inuyasha's hollering.

"If we're all supposed to stay together, we might as well make it a survivable stay." Kagome huffed, and turned to talk to Rin. "So, what's your name?" she asked sweetly.

"I'm Rin!" she replied with cheer greater than Kagome's. "What's your name?"

"It's Kagome, and this one is Shippo,"

"Hi there, Rin!" Shippo smiled toothily and waved at Rin from Miroku's shoulder.

"That's Miroku,"

"Pleasure to meet you, Rin." He bowed to her, and Rin giggled joyfully.

"That loud obnoxious one is Inuyasha,"

From the branch of a tree, Rin heard him reply with a 'feh'.

"She's Sango,"

"Hello, Rin!" Sango, too, bowed slightly to Rin, who bowed back.

"And that's Kirara, our feline friend." Kagome said as she pointed to the demon in Sango's arms.

Kirara gave a little 'mew', and Rin became excited.

"Wow!" she walked up to Sango to see the little cat. "She's such a cute kitty! Can I pet her?"

"Uh," Sango looked down at Kirara who gave a 'mew' of approval. "Of course you can Rin."

Kirara hopped into Rin's arms, and relaxed under the comforting pats that she received from the little girl. She purred contently, and Rin giggled happily.

Sesshomaru watched Rin as she chatted away to the two females. Inuyasha was sulking in the tree, and Miroku and Shippo sat together at the base of Inuyasha's tree, waiting for something to happen. To them it was all very surprising to see that the two brothers haven't started fighting. Perhaps the mention of the two women made them forget about their petty differences. Sesshomaru then sensed something very peculiar.

At first he thought it was a demon, but after concentrating a little harder, he noticed that the aura he sensed was that of a half-demon. However, the mixture of demonic blood and human blood was slightly altered. There was a small amount of it that was different, in the very same way that Lavender and Lily were different.

In the distance, a flash of silver could be seen, and the power of the individual rose greatly, in the same ranks of Inuyasha, or even himself.

"Hey Sesshomaru," Inuyasha was watching his older brother, waiting to see if Sesshomaru would show any kind of reaction. The fact that he was concentrating so hard on the aura was enough proof that there was something going on that he should know about. "Do you know that person?"

Sesshomaru's response was him sprinting into the distance, where the silver flash had occurred. The others followed immediately, the humans hopped onto the backs of their flying companions, as well as Jaken, and Inuyasha followed on foot.

They reached the site of a battlefield, just at the edge of the forest. The trees were sliced apart, torn to pieces because of the attack. Even the ground had slash marks in it as though someone aimlessly struck the earth with a sword. There was a demon corps blocking their view of its killer. It was the guardian of the forest, and it was most likely trying to keep out a trespasser. The demon itself was hacked and slashed into several pieces, and had a look of shock displayed on its face.

As the body of the demon dissolved and disappeared into the Netherworld, a small child was left in the mess of the battle. It was a little girl who looked at about the age of five, and there was two silver orbs hovering above each of her shoulders. After a few seconds, they both disappeared into her body. She was wearing a solid black tee shirt that was far too large for her. It was as long as a dress, and her shoulder was poking out of the neck of it. There was a thin white strap on her shoulder, which was a tank top, and she wore white cargo capris. Her hair was very short – barely reaching her chin – and it gradually became shorter at the back of her head. Two braids, that reached her elbows, were placed in front of where her human ears should be. The girl's real ears were on top of her head, like little versions of Inuyasha's dog-ears. Hers however had two little silver hoops attached to each one like earrings, which made her look like a rebel. Her bangs were neat and tidy, just like Sesshomaru's. Even her eyes were exactly like Sesshomaru's golden gaze, but her hair was a different story. It looked like it had little blobs of every colour of the rainbow in it, except for her braids that were their natural, silver colour.

"_Wow! This is awesome!_" The little girl started speaking in the foreign language Sesshomaru heard from Lavender and Lily so long ago, and she clasped her hands together as if trying to keep them from moving too much because of her excitement. "_I was trying to find you guys, but you guys found me! That makes me so happy! You can tell how lazy I am, eh? Well, I just don't like- wait a sec, you guys probably don't know what I'm saying, do you?_" The little girl chuckled after seeing the dumbfounded looks on the faces of Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Shippo, Sango and Jaken. The others wore either an expressionless mask, or watched with a dazed look on their face. The child switched to speaking in Japanese, so as to limit their confusion.

"Let me start over," she cleared her throat, and continued in a business-like attitude. "My name is Saria, and I am seven years old-"

"Seven? You look five..." Inuyasha quietly thought out loud, while staring at the child before him that looked an awful lot like Sesshomaru, which gave him a very sick and disturbing feeling in the pit of his stomach. Things were starting to piece together now, why Lavender and Lily had to suddenly leave.

"Hey!" Saria gave Inuyasha an indignant glare, and jumped a few feet into the air. Before her feet could land on the ground, a silver disk appeared beneath her, acting as a platform. She leaned forward with one foot, and she glided towards Inuyasha and stopped directly in his face. "I am _not _five, I only look it because I was prematurely born... And I'm a Hell of a lot smarter than a _five_-year-old. In fact, my IQ is equivalent to that of a first year college student." Saria smugly held her nose in the air with pride.

"No WAY!" Kagome moved between Inuyasha and Saria. "How can you be that smart if you're only seven?"

"Well, I never forget anything." After seeing the confused look on Kagome's face, she elaborated. "Everything I read, I remember. Which means that if I read about the formula for gravitational fields, for example, I'll never forget it and I can call up the information whenever I want. Mama says that it's the mana in my blood that let's me do that."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Kagome's eyes shined with determination as she looked up at Saria standing on her little silver platform, ignoring the strangely coloured hair, as if she was a Goddess. "Do... Do you think you could help me learn Geometry!"

"Uh... sure... I guess..." Saria's platform slowly started backing way to the ground, trying to stay away from the look that Kagome was giving her.

Meanwhile, as the conversation was happening, Sesshomaru felt frozen, and Inuyasha was thinking. Sesshomaru was not sure how to react. He knew how this child was related to him, but he could not understand how. She said she was seven years old, but if she is Lavender's daughter, she should be at least two hundred years old. Also, Saria's scent had Lavender's fragrance all over her. It was a little different, and mixed with tons of other scents, but there was no doubt that Lavender exists. He thought she probably would have died at least one hundred and twenty years ago. The final thing that ran through his mind, and what disturbed him the most, was how could she possibly give birth to their child, and not tell him?

Inuyasha on the other hand was watching Saria closely. She looked too much like Sesshomaru to not be a relative, but the only problem was that she was a half-demon. Sesshomaru would never have a child with a human. Unless he was convinced that the human was actually a demon. Lily and Lavender were humans who deceived Sesshomaru, and when he found out, he banished them. Inuyasha, of course, understood how they managed to show up after two hundred years. They are after all from Kagome's time.

Inuyasha felt himself seething inside, he wanted to attack Sesshomaru, yell at him for being such an arrogant jerk, for making the first two people who did not care that he was a half-breed leave him, just because he found out they were humans. But he took a deep breath, and held it all in. He was more worried about seeing Lily and Lavender again, and talking with his niece, than fighting Sesshomaru. He could do that another time.

Saria, who realized that her rehearsed introduction was ruined by Inuyasha's comment about her age, turned away from Kagome who was asking her random questions about Math, and talked with the other members of Inuyasha's group.

She completely ignored Sesshomaru, knowing that he was her father, but she did not know how he would react to her, and was frightened. What if he didn't approve? What if he didn't like the sight of her hair? It was an accident... _it was supposed to be a picture... _she thought.

Miroku and Sango were both kind to her, and Jaken seemed very cautious of her. He wanted to be nice to her, because he noticed the obvious relationship to Sesshomaru, and did not want to offend his lord. However, at the same time he did not want to be nice to a mere half-demon.

Saria hit it off very well with Rin and Shippo. She never really had friends in school because everyone thought she was unnatural, what with her beautiful amber eyes, silky silver hair, and super-intelligent mind, so having Rin and Shippo being nice to her made her feel welcome. They talked about many random things, such as favourite colours, favourite food, and other sorts of favourite things.

"The best food on the planet is WacDonad's cheeseburgers. They're my favourite!"

"I've never had cheeseburgers... but I really like Ramen!"

"What is a 'cheeseburger', and a 'ramen'?"

"Well," Saria decided that she should take the question. "Ramen it just dried noodles (woop-de-do), but _cheeseburgers_ are-"

Saria stopped talking and perked her little dog-ears up. "Hear that?"

Inuyasha perked up his ears, and Sesshomaru concentrated on the noise Saria was talking about. There was a low humming sound off in the distance, one that Inuyasha was vaguely familiar of. "That sounds like... something from your time, Kagome..."

"Of 'course, it's mama!" Saria quickly jumped to her feet, and waited for her mother while fidgeting with her fingers. "I think she took the Jeep... by the sounds of it..." Saria scrunched up her eyes trying to concentrate on the sound, Kagome however was thinking about what she said.

"What? She brought a _Jeep_ to the Feudal Era!" She slapped her hand to her forehead, "what about the pollution? Wont it effect time somehow?"

"I don't know... but to be perfectly honest, I don't really care." she gave a sweet smile to Kagome, and turned back to where the Jeep was coming from. Kagome gave a helpless glance at Saria, and then awaited the arrival of Lily and Lavender.

_Feudal Era?_ Sesshomaru was thinking abut the things that Saria, and Kagome were saying. Both of their clothes are so different compared to average people, as are their attitudes for that matter. Different eras? They were definitely not from the past, so the two are from the future. But that is not possible. _Is it?_

"Uh oh..." Saria ran to the back of Inuyasha. "I just realized something, I wasn't supposed to leave home..."

"What?" Inuyasha asked while looking down at her from behind his shoulder.

"We got a little apartment in Japan, but Mom was still in Canada taking care of some things before coming down here. The person who was watching me, Lynda, fell asleep while she was studying for college, and I snuck out. Mama is already angry for losing a deal, that she probably wont have any patience for me..."

"No way, Lavender could never get mad at her own child." Inuyasha said without a shred of doubt. "She's too nice."

"Well, just because she's nice, doesn't mean that she can't get really pissed off, really easily." Saria shuddered from remembering the last person who made her mad. All he did was take the Fruitloops box she wanted at the grocery store. Lavender left him behind with a black eye and crammed in the second shelf of the cereal. "Just be careful if she's wearing a bandana on her forehead. That usually means that she's so pissed she's warning her friends not to get on her bad side. And also to keep her hair out of her face or she'll freak out..."

A yellow Jeep came into view, travelling at very high speeds, skilfully dodging all the random tree trunks in its way. In the driver's seat was Lavender, wearing her favourite black tank top, with her favourite grey cargo pants. Her dark, brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of large sunglasses, and sure enough, she was wearing a purple bandana wrapped tightly across her forehead, holding back her black hair, which grew to a length just past the middle of her back.

Lily was sitting as far away from her sister as possible in the passenger's seat. She was now wearing a white spaghetti-strap shirt, with a frilly, light green skirt, which was the same length as Kagome's (or even shorter). Her blonde hair was now short like Saria's, and she tied a pink ribbon in it like a headband. She, too, was hiding her pale, hazel eyes behind a pair of thin sunglasses.

The entire group watch them with unbelieving eyes as Lavender brought the Jeep to a halt only a foot or two away from Miroku, who was the closest one to the twins.

Lavender hopped over her car-door, taking advantage of there being no roof. Lily calmly stepped out of the car using the door. Lavender roughly threw her shades onto the car seat, and Lily shifted hers to the top of her head.

Miroku smiled lecherously when Lavender stood in front of him.

"What's up, I'm Lavender, and you're in my way," she introduced herself angrily. Instead of backing off however, Miroku took her hands into both of his, and pulled her closer to him.

"Hello, I'm the Monk Miroku, it is a pleasure to meet a beauty such as yourself," he stroked her hand, and Lavender gave him a confused look. Sesshomaru was watching angrily, but did not bother to do anything. To him, Lavender was still someone he cherished as a friend, but because of the incident 200 years ago, he was trying very hard to be hateful towards her. Unfortunately for him, it was not working as well as he hoped.

"Nice to meet you too..." Lavender said sarcastically and continued to give him a funny look. Miroku took that as an acceptance of him, so he moved even closer to her, and placed his cursed hand on her behind. In a flash, she raised a fist, and punched him on the dead-centree of his face and walked away with a huff. "Jerk."

Lily came up giggling, and when Miroku recovered he took her hands into his, and gazed deeply into her eyes. "Will you... bear my children?"

"What?" Lily pulled her hands out of his reach, and behind him Sango was seething as she raised her Hiraikotsu, and the others shook their heads in disgust. "A baby? No way, I don't want children. Can't we just have sex?" She asked innocently. Miroku was stunned because he never heard such an answer before, and so were the others. Sango accidentally let hiraikotsu drop to the ground with a 'thud', and Lily continued talking, "I hate cheaters though, so we'd have to wait until I break up with my current boyfriend. That shouldn't be too long, I was getting bored with him anyway..."

"Uh... that's... uh..." Miroku had no idea how to answer her, and was afraid about what Sango would do to him if he said something wrong.

"Shut up, Lil." Lavender too was watching the scene, but with a look of disgust, not shock.

"You shut up."

"Oh, great come back." Lavender replied sarcastically, and Lily just ignored her, not really caring what her sister says. "Okay, so... Saria, get your ass out here now." she kept a look of calm on her face as she shut her eyes in annoyance.

"Sorry, mama," Saria stepped out from behind Inuyasha, ears flat against her head, and gave her mother her best puppy-look she could muster, which was a very sweet look that would make anyone's heart melt, possibly even Sesshomaru's. "I was really bored, and I just couldn't wait to see the Feudal Era, and I really wanted to see-"

"No more excuses, and-" Lavender opened her eyes, and saw the blobs of different random colours in her hair. "What did you do to your hair? When did this happen? And why are you wearing my shirt!"

"Well, I let Lynda try and make a picture in my hair but it didn't turn out, and we did this yesterday, and you never wear it, so I thought it would be okay..."

As Saria was speaking, Lavender scanned her petit body for any sign of a fight that she might have gotten into. That's when she noticed a slight little spec of blood on her shoe from the quick battle she was in earlier. "Saria! Are you okay?" her anger subsided instantly and was replaced by the loving affection of a mother. "Did you get into a fight? I told you to be careful!"

Saria giggled, and threw herself into her worrying mother's legs for a great hug. "You're so funny, mama!"

"Huh? That better not be an insult..." she patted Saria on top of her head, and looked up. "Okay, so back to business... I'm Lavender, and this is my twin Lily," Lily gave a small wave to the little group Lavender was speaking to, and winked at Miroku, who looked away after seeing Sango's angry look in the corner of his eye. "And we came because..." Lavender's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she bit her bottom lip trying to hold herself back. "Oooh! I can't help it anymore!" Lavender ran and pounced on top of Inuyasha, who was acting shy since the moment they arrived. "I missed you Little Guy!" she said as she hung off his neck.

Inuyasha returned the hug by tightly wrapping his arms around her back, while speaking quietly, "I missed you too... I wondered when you were finally gonna come see me..."

Lavender giggled, and stepped back from him to get a good look at him. "I guess I can't call you 'Little Guy' now, can I?"

Inuyasha smiled bashfully, and after seeing the looks on his friends' faces, he glared at them. Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kagome had never seen him act so shy and embarrassed like that before, so they were snickering at him from behind Lavender.

"I'll think of a new name later, but first I think I oughta say 'hi' to everyone else first." She cleared her throat, and looked at Sango. "You're Sango - awesome boomerang you got there, I wish I had one!"

"Uh, thanks... you can try using it sometime, if you want."

"And you're Kagome - cute uniform!"

"You think so?" Kagome looked down at her little skirt, and tugged on the hem.

"You're Shippo – you're so adorable!"

"Uh, hi." Shippo stayed perched on Kagome's shoulder, not really able to think of what else to say.

"And you're Kirara – I just wanna kidnap you, you're so adorable!"

She gave a little oblivious 'mew' in response.

"And you're Miroku... don't try that again, or I might break both of you arms... but besides that, I like that little ponytail of yours, it's cute, and suits you well..."

"Why thank you," Miroku smiled mischievously, which to his friends is a sure sign of lechery. "And I rather like that beautiful body of yours, it suits you well, too!"

Lavender rolled her eyes, and Inuyasha asked the question that was on everyone's minds at the moment. "How do you know them? I thought you lived in Kagome's time?"

"We do. Saria met Souta at school, and he told us about you, Inuyasha."

"What? Souta was giving you guys information, but he didn't tell me about you?" Kagome angrily thought about how she might punish her brother for keeping secrets.

"We told him not to-" Lily started to say, but then let Lavender continue.

"Because then you guys might come looking-"

"And we weren't ready at the time." the twins put on a good show of finishing each other's sentences, and Lily added one last thing. "Well, I guess we were ready, but Lavender was too cowardly to see Sesshomaru."

"LIL!" Lavender screamed. "I am not a coward in ANY way!"

"Whatever you say..." Lily replied unconvinced.

"Where is Sesshomaru, anyway?" Miroku thought out loud.

Everyone glanced around them for a sign of Sesshomaru, but he was nowhere to be found.

"He was standing at the back of the group," Lily explained. "He saw Lavender, and left into the woods."

"Good," Lavender said quietly and maliciously.

"Oh no!" Jaken squealed like a little schoolgirl, and started running in frantic circles. "My Lord has been chased off by these incompetent wenches!"

"Oh really? Well he had a reason," Lavender lifted her foot, and stomped down on Jaken's head, causing him great pain. He ceased his squealing, and Lavender felt better because she got to harm to someone and take out her anger.

"Go get him, Lave," Lily ordered.

"Why me?"

"You and Sesshomaru have some things to clear up if we need to be travelling together now, so off you get!" and Lily pointed to the direction that she felt Sesshomaru's aura.

"Oh... okay," Lavender slinked off into the forest, half of her wanting to avoid her destination at all costs, and half wanting to get their quickly because it has been so long since she last saw Sesshomaru.

"Okay, so you're all probably utterly confused."

"Got that right!" Inuyasha stated. "What took you guys so long to come see me? It's been two hundred years!"

"Well then, I guess I should be the one to explain everything..." Lily seated herself on the ground, and neatly flattened out her skirt. The others followed suit, seating themselves in a circle. Even Jaken sat with them, however he faced the opposite direction (trying to seem like he does not care).

"When we left you Inuyasha, we came back into Kagome's era. Seven years after that, Lavender got a vision."

"What kind of vision?" Miroku asked.

"She saw a strange demon with our ancestor, Hiro." Lily cleared her throat, readying herself the long explanation that she had to give. "See, Hiro was such a great sorcerer, that when he was sealed away by our other ancestor, Cassandra, he stayed alive. In Lavender's vision, he found a way to bring someone to the place that he was sealed, which is one of the stars in the sky."

"How can someone be sealed up in a _star_?" Shippo asked sceptically.

"All technicalities will be cleared at the end of my explanation." Lily said quickly, but politely. "So, there was a demon with him, and his name was Naraku."

"Naraku!" Inuyasha growled, letting his hatred for the evil half-breed boil. Any mention of his name would anger Inuyasha because it reminded him of what he did to him and Kikyo, and the fact that they, once again, had no leads as to where to find him.

The other's faces hardened as they thought about the evil things Naraku had done to them. Jaken turned around to face Lily completely so that he could pay full attention and learn new information for his Lord.

"Is that where he ran off to? To some guy trapped in a star!" Inuyasha seemed to be getting even angrier. The thought that Naraku found a new person to protect him mad him very angry indeed.

"Well, Lavender wasn't sure about that specific detail, all she knows is that Hiro is making a deal with Naraku."

"What kind of deal might this be, Lily?" Miroku took over the interrogation, knowing that Inuyasha would just get frustrated halfway through his questions.

"All we know is that they are working 'for a common goal', which is what Lave said that they said. We didn't know who Naraku was until Souta told us about him a few days ago, when Saria met him."

"Wait a second," Kagome had her chin in her hands, and was thinking hard about what she was going to say. "Lavender had a vision in the modern era, and a vision is something that happens in the future, or the present, right?"

"Correct, Kagome." the amorous monk replied.

"So then how did Naraku show up in the vision, unless he traveled to the modern era on his own? I'm sure I would have noticed his large amount of evil aura..."

"Thus is why we, Lavender and I, are here. We need to figure out if Hiro has gained enough power to actually _bring _people from the past to the future, or if he is actually in the past, here in the feudal era. Either way, it's a problem we need to find the solution to." Lily stopped, and thought for a moment. "There must be a portal that leads to the star... they had to get there somehow..."

"So what you're saying is that you need to find the portal to get to this Hiro guy, and when you do you'll find Naraku?" Inuyasha suggested hopefully.

"Sort of. The portal will be impossible to track down, but Naraku should be easy..."

"What!" Inuyasha hollered in an annoyed voice. "You can't say Naraku is easy to find when there's no leads to go by!"

"He's right," Sango finally spoke up after simply watching and listening the whole time. "No one has seen where he might have gone to, and there are no signs of his incarnations anywhere."

"He has incarnations, eh?" Lily pondered for a moment, and continued. "Let's not worry about that now... I'm sure you have some questions about us, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha was taken aback by Lily's good intuition, and nodded his head. "I remembered you two as demons, not humans. What happened?"

"Well, remember the amulets?" Inuyasha nodded his head. "They give us demonic-like powers (not truly demonic), but now-a-days, Lave and I will only transform when we need to, and in the modern time that's never, considering the fact that we'd hunted down by scientists, the FBI, and possibly circus owners if anyone saw us..."

"Which is exactly why I don't like it when Inuyasha comes to the future..." Kagome said, happy that someone else saw her views, someone that Inuyasha would have a better time listening to.

Miroku cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "If I may interrupt, there is one thing that none of us know, and all of us are curious to know about."

"Yes," Sango perked up, eagerly wanting to know the answer to the question Miroku was about to ask. "I, personally, would like to know how you and Lavender know of Inuyasha."

"Since Inuyasha did not tell us himself."

"Well, we showed up when he was five years old, and we travelled with him and Sesshomaru for awhile. During that time, Lavender took care of Inuyasha as if he was her son, and to me he was like a little brother."

"That's so sweet of you guys!" Kagome sighed and looked over at Inuyasha beside her. He turned his head away, blushing ever so slightly.

"I understand now," Miroku gave a wide smile, happy with himself for his discovery. "That is why Inuyasha did not even think twice about coming to see his older brother. He didn't even fight with Sesshomaru, he just wanted was to see the two of you again!"

"So you guys are fighting now, eh?" Lily gave a sympathetic look at Inuyasha. "I always told Sesshomaru to be nice to you, otherwise his actions would cause Lavender to turn around and kick him in the ass. I'm one hundred percent positive that when Lave finds out about you guys fighting, she'll give our Lord a good talking to."

Inuyasha chuckled at the thought, remembering one time how Lavender started lecturing Sesshomaru about being kind to those of kin. The others had worried expressions on their faces, thinking about how Sesshomaru might punish her for trying to lecture him. Jaken just squealed in protest about how his lord would never allow himself to be lectured by a low-life, and was shut up by Inuyasha who threw a log at the little imp.

"So, I hope that clears up enough for now," Lily said all business-like. "We can tell you about other things another time, but first I need Lavender back with Sesshomaru so we can tell you what we're gonna do about the situation at hand." she looked over at Saria, who was gazing into the forest absent-mindedly. "Saria... Sar... SARIA!"

Saria jerked awake from her zoned-out state, and looked at Lily with wide-eyes. "How 'bout you go get your mom and dad for us."

"Kay," she replied, and quickly ran off into the forest where she sensed the auras of her mother and father.

"So Sesshomaru _is_ her father then?" Sango confirmed to herself.

"That's what I figured too," Shippo added; glad to have someone else mention it before him just in case he was wrong. "She looks a bit like him, and she has a bit of his aura in her."

"Yeah..." Lily smiled over at Sango, but her face showed signs of sadness as one might expect. Often it brings up sad feelings of a couple bearing a child, yet not being together to raise it. "Sesshomaru sent us away when he learned that we were humans, but he didn't know about Saria. I hope he'll forgive Lavender, and accept Saria, otherwise Lave will just be depressed for the rest of her life..."

"How can she possibly want Sesshomaru to forgive her?" Inuyasha yelled more than asked. "_He_ should be the one who needs forgiveness; he left her alone and pregnant!"

"You don't understand, Inuyasha... No matter how hard she tries, she can't hate him for making her leave, because she hates herself for keeping so many secrets from the man she loves."

Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head because of how sorry he felt for Lavender. His voice however was full of anger and malice. "If Sesshomaru wasn't such an arrogant bastard, then she wouldn't've had to lie to him in the first place..."

**A/N:** FINALLY... I feel bad at leaving the chapter here, but if I didn't stop soon then I'd go on forever... The next chapter will have the convo with Sess and Lave, and their plans will be revealed. So, review (pwetty-pwease) and again, I'm sorry about the wait... I'll try and update as soon as possible!

PS: 'Tis FIXED.


	5. Surprise Surprise!

**A/N:** First thing I wanna get out of the way... I drew a piccy with Lily, Saria, and Lavender together (they are leg-less though... there wasn't enough room on the page...) so go here: **http/ tinyurl. com/pju4k** (don't forget to add the proper "http/" thingy, because fanfiction is mean and doesn't set it up properly for you people) but of course without the spaces. It's not as good as it could be, it's just that I tried colouring it on the compy, but I suck at that so... whatever... I think I'll put on a bunch more... I have a cute picture with Lavender and Terry, but you guys don't know him yet (gaspies). (The keyword here, is "yet")

Okay, I have one part that's in French in this chapter. It's not big so... who really cares. It's a spell, and I will probably have a few like that because it's better that way. Some Spells are in French, some are in Japanese, some are in English, some are not spoken. So yeah...

And on last thing... I have more reviewers! (Giggles insanely) now I have 5, gothshadow, badass, kogalover, Alchemist Taya, and Black Eye Candy (huggles everyone)... on with the show, before I scare people away!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Inuyasha, neither does every other person in the world not called Rumiko Takahashi. So there! Now you guys have to feel bad too.

**Chapter 5: Surprise Surprise!**

Sesshomaru had left the instant he saw Lavender in the strange contraption that was transporting her towards him. He left, and disappeared into the forest without a second thought, as though it was instinct, and no one even noticed. He sat on a boulder at the edge of a slow-moving stream. He ignored the conversations they were having, and awaited Lavender, whom he knew would come after him. She always did. She was the only person he wanted to see.

Sure enough, after several minutes, Lavender's heated aura came storming through the trees, and stopped directly behind him. He could tell how angry she was.

"Lily said that you need to come with me so we can talk with the others," she said mechanically and forcefully. How was she supposed to make a decent conversation with the one man who banned her from his lands with the threat of death, and would not leave her mind every time she tried to forget him by dating other men? Or how often she struggled with herself to try and hate him for what he has done to her, for leaving him even though the only thing he had done wrong was believe her lies?

Sesshomaru stood still and uncaring, showing Lavender that he really did not give a damn about talking with the others.

There was a long pause, and Lavender gave out a huge sigh. "I can't take it anymore, Sesshomaru!" she carefully rounded the boulder so she could look directly at his face, and in an instant her mood was no longer angry, but sad and blue. She looked deeply into his indifferent golden eyes with her own sad brown ones. "I hope you're not angry that I came back..."

Sesshomaru's gaze wavered; he did not know how to reply to her. A part of him - his 'Demon Lord' half – was angry that she disobeyed him, but the other part – the 'Normal Sesshomaru' half – was happy to see her again.

Lavender took his lack of reply as a good sign, because she knew that if he was angry enough with her, she would not be standing where she was. "I wanted to come before and tell you... about Saria..." her eyes started to water up at the reminder of, yet again, keeping another secret from him. "But... but I was scared about what you might think! I could've visited you so many times, you and Inuyasha, but I was too much of a coward!"

By this point, she was grasping his haori at the collar, and crying slightly. Her eyes were red and puffy now, and all she wanted at the moment was for Sesshomaru to hug her. But he did not do such a thing. Instead he took his sleeve and wiped off a little tear rolling down her cheek.

"She really wants to get to know you..." Lavender said, barely above a whisper. "She really needs her real father right now, to talk to, and be good to her... I was just worried... that you wouldn't except her, because she's just like Inuyasha..."

Sesshomaru let a comfortable silence wash over them before he spoke. "Why would I not be good to a child of mine, who bears my blood? The blood of this Sesshomaru is greater than any other, therefore even a half-demon of mine is more important than any other demon."

Lavender gave a great big smile to him, and crashed into his chest with a bear hug. Just as he was about to push her off of him, fearing that they might be spotted together, her fingers started groping around for his left arm.

"What happened?" she looked up at him while squeezing the empty sleeve shut.

"It is not important." He then tugged the sleeve away, and looked at a tree across the stream, clearly avoiding her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure we've been through this before," Sesshomaru looked back at her, surprised that she would remember their conversation from so long ago.

"_You are well rested, I presume."_

"_Yep... I feel as good as new!" she stretched her arms out, and took off her boots to let her feet soak in the water. "How about you?"_

"_It is not important."_

"_To you maybe, but it is to me." She pulled his chin to make him face her. "I think it's important... I want to know how you've been in my absence."_

"Tell me, or I'll assume you chopped it off in a wood cutting accident!"

Sesshomaru made a 'humph' sound, and answered her. "An opponent of mine had surprised me greatly. I had not expected him to attack me the way he had."

"Don't worry Sesshomaru, I'll help you get revenge!" Sesshomaru inwardly snickered at the thought of Lavender cutting off Inuyasha's left arm as payment. "But in the meantime I think I can get you a killer arm as a replacement." Lavender's eyes darkened at the thought of a mechanical arm that could shatter solid rock at the slightest touch.

"I am not interested," he said simply. Sesshomaru had had enough of arm replacements, and he did not want to have one supplied by a human. It would probably be worse than any other arm he had.

Lavender instantly dropped the topic. She did not want to get into an argument, especially since she was going to go ahead with the idea either way. She thought for a moment, and asked Sesshomaru the question that had been on her mind ever since her sister said it was about time they went to the past. "Does this mean you forgive me, and all of my pathetic lies?"

Sesshomaru gave her no response of any kind, and left her to believe that he did forgive her, which put a smile on her face.

"No," her smile disappeared in an instant. "Not right now."

Lavender dropped the subject, along with her smile, and sat on the boulder with him, back-to-back with elbow on her knee and her chin resting in her hand.

They sat in silence, until they picked up the aura of Saria coming towards them. Lavender stood up, and waited for Saria to spot her and come running. Sure enough, when she saw her mother standing next to the boulder her father was sitting on, she broke into a sprint, and plunged herself into her mother's legs.

"Hey, Baby," Lavender stroked her daughter's hair, and scratched behind her ears. "Come meet papa!"

Lavender pulled Saria up into her arms, and sat on the boulder. Sesshomaru turned slightly so that he could see them in the corner of his eye.

"Ignore her hair," Saria put her hands on top of her head, as if trying to hide the different colours. "It'll wash away soon, and you'll see her beautiful silver locks shimmering in the moonlight!" Lavender sighed as she remembered watching Sesshomaru's hair sparkle in the moonlight so long ago.

"So," Lavender continued, somewhat awkwardly. "Saria, are you gonna say 'hi'?"

In a tiny squeaky voice, Saria said 'hi papa', and commenced hiding her shy face in Lavender's chest.

"Aww, you're so adorable!" Lavender turned to Sesshomaru to explain some key points about their daughter. "She's _never_ this shy! Trust me, when you guys spend enough time together, you're gonna wish you didn't have amazing canine hearing because she's never gonna stop talking! She's also super-smart. Like, she's so smart that you can't say anything without her correcting you somehow. She remembers _everything_, which is bad because I can't say things like 'I'll get you a car when you're sixteen' to keep her quiet because she'll take it literally and remind me about it on her sixteenth birthday."

"You still owe me a lollypop, remember?" Saria gave a playful glare at her mother.

"Nope, I don't remember."

"Well, you ate the lollypop I was saving for dessert, and you promised me a new one. But, it was three years ago so I don't expect you to remember..."

"I'll get you one when we go back home for a visit, you just gotta remind me."

"Can I have one of those giant ones that are too big for my mouth?" she made hand gestures to show how big of a lollypop she meant.

"You can have one of those small cheap ones, you're too spoiled to have everything you want."

"I'm not spoiled!" Saria retorted.

"Sure you are! And you know what? I'm gonna stop giving you everything you want, otherwise you'll become a spoiled brat."

"Okay," she replied coolly. Lavender raised an eyebrow. "I can just ask papa... right?" she looked up to her father. He was staring at the stream, finding the conversation quite boring, and once he heard Saria call him 'papa', he looked up from the stream.

Lavender made a 'pfft' sound, and said "oh please! He's probably the only person in the world who's immune to your little puppy-eyes look and pout!"

"She is the daughter of this Sesshomaru," he stood up, and indicated for them to do the same. "Therefore, she deserves the very best." Saria beamed up at her father, and skipped to his side while sticking her tongue out at her mother. "Let us go."

"Whatever..." Lavender said gloomily, and followed behind them with slumped shoulders, back to the others. She hated being beat.

* * *

"Finally," Lily let out a little sigh. "Way to take an hour." 

"Shut your mouth!" Lavender snapped. Lily gave out a little chuckle, and stretched.

"Hey Sesshomaru," Lily cheerfully waved at him, and he gave a barely noticeable nod. "I missed you. You always knew how to shut Lavender up."

"What'd I say?" Lavender snapped once again.

Lily rolled her eyes as a response, then stood up and dusted herself off. "Okay Lavender, we have to get the car back to Terry."

"Alrighty then," they walked towards the Jeep where it was parked between two trees and Lavender seated herself in the driver's seat. Lily moved to the backseats to take out their bags. She stepped out holding two large bags. Lily's was a rose coloured book bag with a shoulder strap that held all three of her spell books plus Cassandra's Diary, and Lavender's back-pack was violet and held both of their extra clothes, hygiene products, and two sleeping bags (there was not enough room in the bag for both of their sleeping bags, so Lavender had hers tied to her bag so it was hanging down at the back). "Got everything?" Lily gave a nod, and Lavender set the gears to 'neutral' and stepped out. Lily opened a time portal, and pulled it open wide enough for the Jeep to fit through. "Saria, give it a push, will ya?"

"Yep, but I have to get something first." Saria hopped into the back seat of the car, and pulled out a black back-pack, then went to the front of the Jeep and gave it a small shove that sent it rolling into the black, purple-framed wormhole. Lily closed it when the Jeep was completely gone.

"What's that?" Lavender asked as she tried to tug Saria's bag off her shoulders.

"It's my bag."

"I can see that, but what's in it?"

"My stuff. I knew you guys were too lazy to walk to everyone, so I stuck this in the car."

"So you were lazy too and didn't wanna carry it all the way out here?" Lavender raised an eyebrow.

"At least I can survive a little walk in the outdoors." Saria, too, raised an eyebrow, mimicking her mother. "It has your laptop, mp3, and some extra clothes for me."

"You brought my laptop out here?" Lavender narrowed her eyes into a glare.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of it," Saria said, and waved the topic aside. "I'll take much better care of it than you do with your car, mama."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she replied angrily.

"You just dumped your Jeep into a random spot in Japan, I don't consider that as 'taken care of.'"

"Oh no, no, no," Lily said quickly. "Don't you worry, _I'm_ not as stupid as you're mother," (Lavender protested in the background with a saddened 'heeeey... jerk') "I've been practising, Saria, I now have the ability to chose where the time portal takes us... as long I can see the area perfectly well in my mind. So I believe that the Jeep has crashed into the back wall of our garage..."

"...Moving along..." Lavender turned to the rest of the group, all of whom had puzzled looks on their faces, except for Sesshomaru who was always unwilling to show any emotion. "Ask your questions now so we can get them out of the way." she added with an annoyed look.

"What was that fascinating contraption you were riding in earlier?" Miroku asked, thinking about how easy it would be to pick up a bunch of women in it and quickly get away from their husbands if it was necessary.

"It is called a car. It moves people from one place to another. Next question... you, Sango."" Lavender answered in a monotone voice, and pointed to Sango.

"What was that black circle that Lily created with her hands?"

"Wormhole. Lets us travel through time. Next question, you." Lavender pointed at Kagome, who put her hand up halfway through Sango's question. When Lavender pointed at her she realized she was acting as if she was at school, and quickly put her hand down in embarrassment.

"Uh... why do you need a Laptop?"

"Ask Saria."

"Well, I figured that if we get bored I could just surf around on the Web," she said as if it was the most obvious answer in the universe.

"But there's no Internet connection, so you cant go on the Internet."

"Yeah, but a while back aunt Lily found a way to fuse a little bit of mana to the radio waves coming from the satellites that were connected to their cell phones. It made it so they didn't have to pay a phone bill because the phone company didn't know we were making phone calls because the mana hid the radio waves and it also made it so that their cell phones can work anywhere without any fuzziness, but we don't know if it'll work out here or not because I don't think they tried to call anyone yet." Saria took a deep breath to recover from her long, run-on sentence, and continued with her point. "So, I figured aunt Lily could do the same for the Internet."

"Wow, you can actually do that?" Kagome looked to Lily for confirmation, and she nodded a 'yes'.

"All we need is a cell, and a 'pay as you go' phone plan. You need to be a part of a service, otherwise we wouldn't get a phone number and everything would be pointless..."

"That's amazing! So you think you can do that with the Internet?"

"I'll try another day," said Lily. "I wanna get a move on, I don't feel like standing around, and Lavender is getting annoying," she shifted her heavy bag to a more comfortable spot on her shoulder, and started walking west, with Saria walking beside her. Well, she did not know which way was west, or north, all she knew was that she could sense something strange coming from that direction.

"I am not annoying..." Lavender replied indignately.

"You were being snappy at people..."

Lavender let out a little 'huff', and followed behind her twin. "Let's go you guys, Lily's our guide." Sesshomaru followed suit, and Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un tagged along with their lord.

Inuyasha stared after the twins for a few moments as the others got their things together. He quickly got up, and raced past Sesshomaru and his entourage to Lavender's side. As soon as he stopped beside her, she quickly wrapped her arms around him in a sort of side-ways hug as they were walking. Inuyasha shyly placed his hand around her shoulder. He was not used to receiving such attention from anyone.

"You don't understand how much I've missed you, Little Guy..." Lavender spoke softly.

"I missed you too..." Inuyasha's voice was soft too, as if he would destroy the moment if he were to speak in a normal tone. "I... didn't think I'd ever see you guys again... I gave up hope after ten years... But you're here now, you kept your promise, and that's all that matters now..." he smiled, and looked down into Lavender's beautifully smiling face.

"We're gonna have fun, kay Little Guy?"

"Of course." They shared a good laugh.

The group had been walking for hours. Lavender was trying to learn more about Inuyasha's past, but he did not want to say anything so he asked Lavender about her past. Neither of them wanted to say anything so they opted to stay silent, enjoying each other's company, and listening to everyone else.

Kagome, Sango, and Shippo were all talking with Rin. Shippo thought she seemed like a fun friend, but Kagome and Sango were hoping that maybe she'd say how she met up with Sesshomaru. Of course, because of her childish ways, the topic would somehow be turned into something about cute fuzzy animals, or pretty colourful flowers.

Saria and Miroku were talking as if they were best friends. Saria was happy because it was almost never that she could have another intellectual to talk to, or another person who wanted to hear about the things she knew. Jaken was also in on the conversation, but he was trying to contradict Saria on the things she said, like how it rains. He did so politely however, so as to not ignite the wrath of Sesshomaru.

Eventually, as Inuyasha's mind started to wander, he remembered something. "In the letter Saria sent me, it said something about a dead person coming back from the dead... who is it?"

"That's a surprise, and he's technically not 'back from the dead', we basically just gave him a solid form of a spirit." Lavender was getting tired of walking while hugging Inuyasha, so she pulled her one arm away, and kept her other arm around his waist, and his arm still around her shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We'll explain later. It's easier for you to see it for yourself than to hear about it."

"Okay, if you think so."

As they were talking, Sesshomaru was not enjoying the sight of them holding each other like that. To him, it seemed dirty for someone to touch a half-demon like his brother. He sped up and passed the two who completely ignored him, and he began walking a step ahead of Lily.

"You always have to be in the front, don't you?" Lily had an eyebrow raised mockingly, and Sesshomaru ignored her.

Kagome and the others were still quite confused as to what was going on as they brought up the rear.

"Does anyone know where we're going exactly?" Sango asked in a hushed whisper.

"I don't know, they never said where," Kagome replied in the same hushed voice.

"It must be to where Naraku is... that only makes sense considering that they said that to find Naraku meant to find this 'Hiro' person," Miroku whispered wisely.

"Yeah, Lily must know where Naraku is hiding then," Shippo said, also in a quiet voice. "So, why are we whispering, if Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Saria can still hear us anyway? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of whispering?"

The three gave each other confused looks, not knowing the answer to Shippo's question.

"Hey!" Jaken squealed over his shoulder. "I can hear you too you know! Not just Sesshomaru-sama, Saria-san and Inuyasha!"

Saria, who was watching her father apprehensively, perked up at the mention of her name. "Huh? What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, I guess you weren't paying attention, huh?" Inuyasha said, not quite answering her question.

"She couldn't pay attention to anything if her life depended on it." Lavender said while shaking her head sadly.

"Well she had to have gotten her extremely short attention span from someone," Lily spoke up, trying to stick up for her little niece. "And that someone is you Lavender." Lavender gave her twin a harmless glare, and gave up on the conversation. "Like mother, like daughter..." Lily added quietly after Saria shrugged off the conversation as well.

As Saria was walking she took off her backpack, and pulled out her mp3 player. She popped the little headphones into her ear, made sure they were in securely, and commenced blasting her music. Everyone around her could hear static sounds coming from the earpieces, but all she could hear were her favourite Rock tunes.

Lavender watched wistfully as she thought about the songs she wanted to listen to, and sometimes even lived for. She hated silence with a passion. _Someone better say something soon for I might break into a song..._

"So, uh, Lily," Sango spoke awkwardly. They had such a rushed meeting that there was not really much time to get to know each other, and get on friendly terms. They might as well start somewhere. "Where exactly are we heading?"

"Well," Lily thought for a moment, to gather her thoughts. "I don't really know..."

"Awesome work sis, I knew you'd come through for us!" said Lavender, in a sarcastic tone.

"I know! I just... don't know the details..." when everyone gave her confused looks, and shared looks of hopelessness with each other, Lily elaborated. "I have a feeling, I can feel a concentration of great mana coming from this direction... It's the best lead we have. We need to find a portal, or a gateway that will lead to Hiro's star, and to do that we need to either find clues, or Naraku."

Miroku looked ahead thoughtfully; trying to organize his mind because of all the new information they were receiving. "You never told us about how this 'Hiro' person became imprisoned."

"Oh yeah, well he and our other ancestor had a HUGE fight, and he was magically sent to a star. See, his castle was ripped from the earth and sent with him because Cassandra, the woman who sent him there, didn't want anything left of him. So basically he's living in a castle, surrounded by fire. And there has to be a barrier around it that he can't break otherwise he would've gotten out of the mess years ago..."

"I see..." he let out a loud sigh that got the attention of everyone.

"What's wrong now, Miroku?" Inuyasha asked, not at all politely.

"Well, from the sounds of it, we're dealing with someone who is either just as bad, or worse than Naraku..."

"So what? I'll just use my Tetsusaiga and destroy them both with my Wind Scar!" Inuyasha raised a fist in triumph, and Lavender began praising him even though she new all too well that it would take a little more than brute force to take Hiro and Naraku down.

"Wow Inuyasha! You're so amazing! What's the 'Tetsusaiga' and the 'Wind Scar'? Can you show me?" she praised with sparkling eyes.

Inuyasha got all excited and pulled out his faithful sword. Kagome, Sango, Shippo and Miroku all sighed and walked faster to get ahead of them, and behind Lily, Saria, Sesshomaru, and his loyal servants. They could hear Inuyasha yell 'WIND SCAR!' followed by tearing of land and trees, which resulted in excited squeals by Lavender. Upon hearing Inuyasha's gloating laugh, the three friends let out a sigh of exasperation.

Kagome was switching her gaze between Sesshomaru and Saria. _Inuyasha claims that Sesshomaru hates humans, so then I'd like to hear his explanation on Rin and his own half-demon niece!_ She found the topic very absorbing. Sesshomaru seemed to have more of a heart than everyone says he has. First of all, there were plenty of occasions where he could have killed Inuyasha, yet turned the other cheek. Second of all, he lets a human child follow him around. Last of all, he has a daughter with a human. And now he's travelling with a bunch of humans for a common goal! _Either Sesshomaru has had a very important past with the twins that he's able to put up with his half-brother, or he has lost his mind... _Kagome thought, but then shook her mind of her accusations. She should not be trying to pry into other people's minds.

"I missed you so much, Inuyasha!" Lavender said for the third time after she and Inuyasha settled down a little.

"I missed you too," he said with a little less heart; he was starting to find that the comment was starting to wear off.

"Hey Lave!" Lily shouted from the front of the group and abruptly stopped. Everyone followed suit and stopped as well (Saria took out her headphones to listen), except for Sesshomaru who took a few steps before stopping, as if he was trying to stay away from the group. "This'll go by much faster if we get the Captain, wont it?"

"I dunno, you're the smart one," Lavender shrugged, obviously not really caring, but after seeing Lily's glare, she tried to seem a little more useful. "Well, we should probably get him first, and test out your theory."

Lily nodded in approval. "I know how badly he wants to get out here..."

"Yeah... Terry is probably driving him nuts right now since Cody is too busy with school to keep him in check..." Lavender shook her head in disapproval. "I swear, we need to hire Terry a babysitter, otherwise he'd get wasted and try to go for a swim in the neighbour's backyard..."

"You two are the exact same, so you'd need a sitter too."

"Shut up... if the Captain were here, he'd stick up for me," Lavender turned her nose up in the air like a child and turned her back to her twin.

"You guys really have to stop leaving us in the dark, here..." Kagome said sadly. Everyone had looks of hopelessness on their faces at the thought of how their journey would be, a lot of talk by the twins that means nothing to them.

"'Tis a secret, my good friend!" Lavender winked, and turned to Lily. "Open up the portal, quickly so we can-"

The sound of rumbling earth stopped Lavender in mid-sentence. Everyone felt vibrations running through their spine, and it was getting worse and worse. Inuyasha quickly whipped out his Tetsusaiga, Sango got a tighter grip on her Hiraikotsu, and Lily slowly crept towards Sesshomaru for protection, as did Kagome with Inuyasha. Saria hopped into the air and her little silver platform appeared beneath her so she could hover above the ground. Lavender quickly rushed through her backpack and pulled out her twin blades. She placed the sheaths securely in her belt, and placed her hands on the hilts of her swords.

They were ready for whatever it was coming their way. The rumbling, however, stopped abruptly.

"What the Hell's going on?" Inuyasha asked out loud.

"Wait for it..." Lavender said as she crouched low into a defensive stance, ready for anything.

"I have a bad feeling about this... do you sense anything, Lave?" Lily was searching around frantically for any signs of life, any mana, demonic energy, spiritual energy, or just any kind of visible aid.

"Nope."

"Exactly... I think now is a good time to call up the Captain, it's something like hi-"

Before she could finish the last syllable, Kagome let out a shrill shriek as she quickly began floating in the air, and rising steadily. As quick as lightning, Lavender transformed into her tigress form, and she bounded towards Kagome with her black-stripped tail swishing behind her. She wrapped her arms around Kagome's waist so that she could stay with her until she figured out the situation.

Everyone watched from below, not being able to do anything considering that they did not know what was happening to Kagome. They could not attack what they could not see, especially if there was the danger of harming two of their allies. So they waited, putting their trust into Lavender who had the situation somewhat under control.

Lily quickly opened up a wormhole, "Hurry Saria, get the Captain!"

Saria flew through the portal on her flying silver platform, and disappeared. Lily left it open, and ran out into the battlefield. As she did so, she pulled out a large, weatherworn book from her bag, held it open in one hand and let her right hand hover above it. She concentrated hard, and the book flew open letting the pages run wild and flip across freely. The pages instantly stopped at the page she wanted.

Lavender was pried from Kagome by an unseen force, and was rushing towards the ground. She tried to move so she could land, but something was holding her in place. Inuyasha jumped to catch Lavender and keep her from falling, but when he tried to pull her free they both ended up ploughed into the ground. Lavender was once again lifted into the air, leaving Inuyasha in the dirt. Lily performed the enchantment on the page in a strong commanding voice to try and solidify the source of the power.

"_Le vivant marchera, le mort hauntera, se réveille de ton cauchemar, et n'haunt jamais encore!_"

As she uttered her last word, a large haze began to form in front of them. It grew thicker and thicker, then colour started to appear in the centre and spread out towards the edges of the thing that was holding tightly onto Lavender and Kagome.

It looked like a greenish demon with horns on its head and an un-intelligent look on its face, but with a terribly cut up body. There were cuts and slashes everywhere on it. The demon looked to be of an ogre, a very large one at that, and Miroku gasped when he recognized it.

"That's the demon that Saria had slain!"

"What? It came back from the dead?" Sango had her Hiraikotsu at the ready when Miroku spoke.

"Yeah, but not in a good way." Lily said as she hurried back to the group. She checked the portal to see if Saria would emerge, but nothing happened.

Inuyasha, now being able to see his foe, readied his Wind Scar attack, and was about to swing until Sesshomaru ran past him, nearly knocking him over with the force of his speed. He slid Tokijin from his sash, and attacked the arm that was holding Lavender. His bluish-white blast went straight through the dead demon, and created a crater in the ground below.

"There's nothing we can do!" Lily cried out, hoping to pull Sesshomaru and Inuyasha away from the ghost. "We can't touch it, nothing will effect it!"

"How about if I try some of my sutras?" as he spoke, Miroku pulled out some out of his robes, certain that they would work, but Lily did not believe it.

"Like I said, nothing can touch it!"

"It's worth a try, though," he threw them at the demon, but just like Sesshomaru's blast, they went straight through it. "Or maybe not..." Miroku sulked, but brightened up at his next thought. "I'll try my Wind Tunnel!" Miroku started to pull off the prayer beads, and Lily started to contradict him, but before either of them could finish, the demon swept his arm across their little group, with Kagome hollering in its hand.

Kirara quickly caught the monk and twin on her back, with Sango riding on her back, and Shippo on Sango's shoulder. They took to the skies, and Ah-Un pulled up beside them with Rin and Jaken on their back.

"LAVENDER!" Lily called out to her twin in a disconcerting voice. She knew her twin would be all right, but their visitor was taking too long, and she wanted to get out of there.

"WHAT?"

"YOU CAN PROBABLY GET AWAY IF YOU DISAPPEAR!"

"UH... OKAY!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'DISAPPEAR?" Inuyasha hollered back, worried by the idea of Lavender disappearing.

"IT'S A NEW TRICK WE LEARNED! BUT IT'S REALLY HARD AND I DOUBT LAVENDER CAN DO IT!"

"HEY! ANYTHING YOU CAN DO, I CAN DO BETTER!" Lavender screamed back indignantly. She transformed into Sesshomaru's favourite form by 'de-growing' her fur, and left no trace of a tiger behind except for the black stripes on her body. She closed her eyes to concentrate, which was difficult considering that she was being whipped around by the demon holding her. But she was determined, and successful. Her body was quickly engulfed by a black shadow, and that's what she became... a shadow on the hands of the demon. She took a step, and her form moved about on the demon's body like a shadow until it safely reached the ground. Lavender ran towards her friends, and transformed back to normal.

"What happened to her?" Shippo asked Lily, who was contemplating as to what to do next.

"Her body became her shadow, and since shadows aren't solid, the ghost couldn't hold her, just like we can't touch it."

"Wow... can you do that too?"

"No... I do something else..." she saw Shippo open his mouth, but she answered him before he could ask. "Save it for another time, I can show you when I need to do it." Shippo nodded his head, then jumped when he heard Kagome's scream.

The demon was holding her by the torso and legs with both hands. It was apparently angry that Lavender managed to slip away, and decided to take it out on Kagome. It was going to tear her in half, and Inuyasha panicked.

"KAGOME!" he leaped to the demon, intent on slicing off its hand, but of course his blade did not meet flesh. When he landed, he looked up to see tears in Kagome's eyes because of the pain, and she was still screaming, scaring Inuyasha since there was nothing he could possibly do, or think of to do.

Inuyasha tried again and again to slice of the demon's arm, and Lily was attacking it with green disks of energy created from her mana –despite knowing it wouldn't work, but nothing worked. Lavender also tried to hack and slash the ghost, but of course, they couldn't touch it. Everyone tried, but nothing worked.

Kagome stopped screaming, she did not have the energy left. She uttered Inuyasha's name quietly, and he was about to go into a fit of rage, when he saw a flash of white.

It jumped from the ground, and raced to Kagome. With lightning speed, it slashed off the ghost's hands, landed a hard kick to its head, then caught Kagome in the air and landed with her in its arms.

Kagome's saviour was a man wearing a pure white hakama and haori, with armour similar to Sesshomaru's except with extra, spiky shoulder plates accompanied by a white fluffy boa on each plate. His long silver hair was fastened in a ponytail, and he had a wavy purple stripe on each of his cheekbones. His amber eyes flashed at Inuyasha as he came to see if Kagome was all right.

"CAPTAIN!" Lavender ran to the man, and was about to pounce on him for a hug when she decided that the situation did not call for a hug... yet.

Kagome let out little whimpers of pain, and Inuyasha roughly took her from the man's arms, and into his. He turned around, and walked towards the nearest tree to prop her up against. Sango, and Shippo followed Inuyasha, their main priority was to check up on their friend. Miroku uttered a quick 'thank you' with a curt bow to Kagome's saviour, then rushed to see how she was.

In the back, the demon gave a little twitch, and started to stand up. The man unsheathed one of the two swords that were fastened to his back, and he held it in front of him. It was very long, and thin. A light purple flame surrounded the blade, and a skull appeared at the tip of it. It floated at the tip, not touching the blade at all, and the flame was still lit around the sword. He slashed the sword in a diagonal cut, and black energy came shooting forth, towards the demon. The energy took on the form of the Wind Scar, and it sliced away the demon until there was nothing left.

Inuyasha's ears perked up at the familiar sound of the Wind Scar tearing through the earth, but ignored it as he tended to Kagome.

"Inuyasha, move over," Lily came and quickly forced her way past Inuyasha.

"Hey! Don't order me around!" he snapped back, which surprised everyone considering that he always had such a kind tone when speaking to either of the twins, but this time he was angry and touchy.

"Hey!" Lavender took hold of Inuyasha's ear, like a mother punishing her son, and pulled him away from Kagome with curses and protests coming from Inuyasha. "Don't you dare talk to my sister like that, Inuyasha! She doesn't deserve it! She's just trying to heal Kagome quickly so that she doesn't suffer! And if I hear that tone coming from you again I'll be _really_ angry, you hear me?"

"She didn't have to push me out of the way! She wasn't any more polite than I was!"

"That doesn't matter! You never talk to her like that again unless she actually does something wrong, and in my book, trying to heal someone ISN'T WRONG!"

Inuyasha's ears were lying flat against his head, and his eyes were concentrating on a spot on the ground. He was obviously upset by Lavender's anger; he had never been treated like that before by her, she was always someone he could turn to for compassion and understanding.

As they were arguing, Lily held her hands above Kagome's chest. She concentrated her mana, and turned it into energy for Kagome's body to use to heal quicker. After a few seconds, her body used enough energy to heal Kagome so that she was no longer in pain from the stretching of her body.

When the crowed had left him to tend to Kagome, he was left alone with Sesshomaru and his servants. Sesshomaru stood frozen to the spot (for the second time in one day. He was not pleased with himself).

"Sesshomaru... it has been, so long... my son..." he walked towards Sesshomaru, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I hope you are well."

Sesshomaru gave a little nod, indicating that he was indeed well.

He looked over at Inuyasha, "I see that you've taken care of him."

Sesshomaru chose not to give a response to that. The truth probably was not a good idea.

"Hey grandpa!" Saria came bounding over to them excitedly, and hopped into her grandfather's arms. "Kagome's okay now, come say 'hi' to everyone!"

He chuckled, "Yes, of course. You know, Sesshomaru, you have a wonderful daughter."

"Hehehe, stop it grandpa... you're making me blush!"

Inuyasha turned away from Lavender to make sure that Kagome was perfectly fine. He was satisfied when she started getting angry with him for getting in her personal space and not letting her breathe.

"Okay everyone!" Lavender called out cheerfully, but not as happy as she originally would have been because of her little argument with Inuyasha. "This is the great Inu no Taisho! Sesshomaru's and Inuyasha's papa!" she smiled up at him, and gave him a hug around the waist, then settled down in a cross-legged position across from him, and beside Lily.

Everyone said polite 'hello's, and 'pleased to meet you's. Kagome also added a 'thank you for saving my life' sentence of gratitude.

"I see that you are the one Lily and Lavender spoke of when they said they had brought someone from the dead." Miroku said kindly.

"Well, not 'from the dead', more like 'given a solid body to use temporarily while on Earth'. Can't you feel it Miroku? His whole body is a soul, a solid soul."

Miroku concentrated briefly. "That's right, there's no demonic energy coming from him."

"Yep! Only those who can sense spiritual energy can sense him." Lavender added with pride. "And because he's connected to the afterlife, he can kill ghosts, and what-not, like what we saw earlier!"

"It must feel good to be back, huh?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, it does. I can finally get out and stretch my muscles," Inu no Taisho placed his hands on his hips, and smiled.

"Hey! Are you saying our house is small?" Lavender said in a jokingly angry tone.

"Of course not," he furrowed his brow as if Lavender had just said something utterly unbelievable.

"He's been staying with you guys in modern times?" Kagome asked, wondering how they've hidden his existence there.

"Yep, for two weeks." Lily said, a little guiltily because she felt bad for having to keep him there for so long.

"Wow, that must've been pretty boring..." said Shippo, "Inuyasha hates going through the well because he can't do anything, so two weeks must've been tough."

"We wouldn't torture him like that!" Lavender replied indignantly. "We always go places, and if anyone gives us so much as a funny look, we tell them to piss off and mind their own business."

"That isn't very polite," Sango said.

"No, but no one's polite where we live... so who cares..." Lavender waved the topic off, and noticed the time of night it was. "Whoa! It's getting late, we should start up camp..."

The Sun had recently set, and the moon was in the sky, adorned with thousands of tiny sparkling stars. Everyone did their own job of collecting wood for a fire, setting up beds, and then huddling around their fire before going to sleep.

During that time, Inuyasha kept his distance from Lavender, still worked up about earlier, and he also stayed away from his father. Sesshomaru stayed silent, and sat under a tree the entire time, so Inu no Taisho stayed away from him, catching the vibes that his son was doing some serious thinking and wanted to be left alone. Inuyasha visibly avoided him, turning the opposite direction every time Inu no Taisho tried to talk to his son, so he quickly got the hint that Inuyasha did not want to talk either. Instead, after everyone was finished with their little chores, he settled for the monk Miroku.

"So, I've noticed they call you 'Captain',"

Inu no Taisho had a pathetic look on his face as he explained. "According to them, my name is too long to say, so they settled on 'Captain'. I am so used to it by now that I don't even notice them saying it..."

"Hmmm... I-nu-no-Tai-sho, Cap-tain... Yes, Captain is, by far, a lot easier to say."

Inu no Taisho sighed and looked around the little camp. Sesshomaru was still sitting under the same tree as earlier, Jaken settled beside his Lord, and Rin was sitting by the fire to keep warm with Ah-Un behind her acting as a bed. Kagome was already in her sleeping bag with Shippo tucked in with her. Sango was beside her, warming up, with Lily on the other side. Saria was sitting on Lily's lap petting Kirara, then came Miroku and Inu no Taisho on the opposite side of them.

"Where has Inuyasha and Lavender gone?"

"Inuyasha's sulking I think," Lily replied. "She comforting him right now, I believe. Either that or she's mad at him for something. I couldn't really tell when they left..."

Inu no Taisho nodded his head, and quietly waited for Inuyasha to return. He really wanted to speak with him, ask him about his mother, and how his life has been up to that moment. To know if he was happy.

**A/N:** WHOA! It's 3:00... AM right now... I am sleeeeepy... I just really wanted to get this chapter out for you guys... get it outta the way... hope you enjoy that, I don't know if it's good because I'm too tired to make good judgement, so tell me about it in a reply. Until next time!

PS: for the French part, If you want a translation, tell me in a review because honestly, I don't remember what it is in English right now...

P.PS: I've FIXED this one too nn.


	6. The Journey OFFICIALLY Begins

**A/N: **Ahoy hoy... I just wanna say how sorry I am for not updating in sooo long. I feel terrible, honest! I've just had to many projects to due at once, and I've been too tired lately. My best time for writing is usually during the night where I can write and write and not have too many distractions from family members. And I've also noticed that my writing is very poor... I think I'm trying to get into the 'heart' of the story too quickly, that all my ideas are all garbled together. Whenever I have time (most likely during summer holidays) I'm probably going to fix up my past chapters. That probably doesn't make a difference to you guys, but it is for me. I know I can write better, I just gotta get myself organized a little better...

**Disclaimer: **Am I actually supposed to write these every time? Oh well... we can see how creative I become throughout the story. ...em eus os ,ahsayunI nwo ton od I

**Chapter 6: The Journey OFFICIALLY Begins**

Lavender dragged Inuyasha away from the camp when she noticed how he was ignoring her. He pouted, sulked, and sighed the whole time as they found a nice spot under a tree in an area away from Sesshomaru and Inu no Taisho's ear-shot.

"Inuyasha..." Lavender began the conversation in a hard, low voice. "Tell me what's wrong."

He sat cross-legged with his back turned to her. There was a definitely a pout on his face as he concentrated on a little leaf across from him. "...I don't wanna talk about it right now, okay?" he said rather rudely.

"Hey! If it's about earlier, get over it!" she prodded Inuyasha between his shoulder blades, "you're such a whiner..."

"Am not!"

"Are too! Look at you sulking, it's as if you've never had someone get angry with you."

"Well that ain't true, I've had tons of people get mad at me!" he crossed his arms in an almost proud manner.

"You know, that's not something to be proud of..." she gave him a funny look, and sat with him, back-to-back. "Why do you think people get mad at you?"

"Because they have problems."

"Umm... sure," she sighed and then spoke in a sad and distant voice. "So... I guess I have some problems too then, huh?"

"What? No way! And if anyone ever gives you a problem then come tell me, I'll take care of it!" He puffed up his chest with pride.

"But you just said that people get mad at you because they have problems, and I got mad at you, which according to your philosophy means that I have problems."

"Everyone else has problems except for you."

"Then why did I get mad?" Lavender asked, and as she did so she crawled around to sit in front of Inuyasha, to see his reaction.

"Because I was being a jerk to Lily when she tried to... help..." realization began to dawn on him as he figured out what Lavender was trying to do. She was trying to make him see his mistake so he would understand her point of view and stop avoiding her. "...I'm not apologizing..." He huffed and turned his head away from her gloating face.

"Hehehe, you're such a cutie-pie!" Inuyasha gave her a funny look, and hoped that no one was around to hear them. "I don't expect you to apologize... In fact _I_ should apologize."

"What? Why?" Inuyasha looked her in the eye with a shocked look on his face, but deep inside he was waiting for the words that he does not hear all too often.

"Because I took it too far, I didn't have to freak out on ya, so I'm sorry." she gave him a bashful and apologetic look with her head tilted to the side making her look impossibly adorable and forgivable. "It's just, I'm a little over protective of my sis... even if we seem to be at each other's throat's all the time..."

"Well... apology accepted..." he gave her one of his own bashful smiles, and Lavender ruined the special little moment they were having by saying just a few little words.

"I missed you Little Guy..."

He looked at her incredulously. "You know, after about the fifth time, it loses its importance..."

She giggled in response, and stood up. Inuyasha took the hand that she held out for him to help him up, and they began walking back to camp when Lavender remembered something else she wanted to ask him.

"So, Inuyasha..."

"Yeah?"

"Why haven't you spoken to your father yet?"

"What? Uh, well..." Inuyasha had a guilty look in his eyes that quickly turned into anger. "You know, you could've asked me if bringing him back is okay _before_ you brought him here! What if I didn't want to see him?"

"Well, why wouldn't you? He's your father!" Lavender was taken aback by Inuyasha's sudden change in mood, and almost yelled her response at him. But she figured that maybe it would have been better to ask first, rather than to make decisions that they, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, should have a part in.

"It's not that, it's just... you could have warned me or something, or just not bring him back at all! I've had bad... experiences, with dead people..." he added the last part quietly as he thought of Kikyo. She came back, and is suffering because she was consumed by hatred and vengeance in the afterlife.

"He's okay..." Lavender leant her head on Inuyasha's arm as they were walking. "He's the nicest man I've ever met, and he loves you so much, Inuyasha... all he wanted was to see you and Sesshomaru again." she lowered her voice to a whisper, "well, he wanted to see you first, to see how you're doing and all that, because he already new Sesshomaru would be fine. You were the top on his list, you know. All he ever thought about, but you can't tell Sesshomaru!"

Inuyasha, who had a little smile on his face as Lavender whispered this bit of information, chuckled and said, "don't count on it." He thought about how wonderful if would be to tell his brother that their father cares for him more than Sesshomaru, while waving the Tetsusaiga gloatingly in his face.

"Hey! I'm serious, Sesshomaru would be mad if he found out, and from what I know he already hates you enough as it is, so don't make it worse!"

"Like I said, don't count on it. That's valuable information, you shouldn't be telling just anyone, ya know."

"I'm not telling _just anyone_, I'm telling you, my honest, faithful, kind, wonderful, little friend whom I can always count on."

Inuyasha then felt a small burst of pride at the thought of Lavender thinking so highly about him, then felt guilty because he was thinking about betraying her trust. "Fine, I wont say anything..."

"Aww, thanks Little Guy!" she wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's waist, and they continued walking back to camp, with Lavender hanging off Inuyasha.

* * *

The camp was engulfed in silence as everyone, except for Inu no Taisho and Sesshomaru, settled themselves in bed to sleep. When everyone was sound asleep, Inu no Taisho finally had the chance to properly talk with his son. 

"Sesshomaru..." Inu no Taisho was speaking carefully, trying to avoid a fight. When they first saw each other after so many years, it was okay because Sesshomaru was too shocked to think about their past quarrels. Now however, Sesshomaru was not so shocked, and had time to think, so it was best to be careful when talking to him. Before he had died, he and Sesshomaru had an argument about Inuyasha being born, and his brother's mother. Sesshomaru told him that if he died to protect the half-breed and human, he would just take it upon himself to kill them both. Inu no Taisho did not take the threat to heart because he knew Sesshomaru well enough to know when he was bluffing. So, he ignored the threat, and nearly pleaded for Sesshomaru to agree to take care of Inuyasha if he ever gets into trouble.

_-Flashback (about 200 years ago)-_

_The moon was full and bright and beautifully contrasted against the jet-black sky. Inu no Taisho was on his way to see Izayoi, who was giving birth to their child that night, but Ryuukotsusei had intercepted him, and he had no choice but to fight. He was so pre-occupied about the well being of his newborn child and lover that he had not been able to use his full strength against the dragon, and was terribly injured._

_When Ryuukotsusei was officially sealed away (and Myoga was thoroughly unconscious from having bits of debris crashing down on him during the fight), Inu no Taisho began to travel to Takemaru's castle, where Izayoi was giving birth, when Sesshomaru had stopped him._

"_Father," Sesshomaru had a hard and determined look on his face, "what do you plan to do?"_

"_I know that Takemaru will kill Izayoi for bearing my child, and I plan to stop him."_

"_Takemaru is a great human general, one who is known for slaying many powerful demons. I have no doubts that you could destroy him easily, however your injuries will prevent that from happening. Takemaru will take advantage of your pitiful state, and kill you. Do you plan to die at the hands of a human, for the sake of a human?"_

"_I do not plan to die. However if I do, then so be it. As long as Izayoi and your little sibling are safe, then that is all that matters to me."_

"_Such a pitiful way to die..." Sesshomaru's voice was laced with malice and anger. "It is a disgrace to our blood, you should let the human wench die, along with the disgusting hanyou."_

_When Inu no Taisho looked at his eldest son, he saw that Sesshomaru's face actually held signs of hatred. It was not normal for him to show any emotion, so Inu no Taisho have a small, and weary chuckle. "Your mother would be displeased if she saw the look on your face, Sesshomaru."_

_Sesshomaru sent a deadly glare at his father. "Hand over the Tetsusaiga immediately."_

"_And what do you plan to do with my fang?"_

"_I must follow the path of conquest for mother's sake, and therefore I must have the power of Tetsusaiga."_

"_My fang is not meant for your use, Sesshomaru. You cannot have it."_

_Sesshomaru growled, and clenched his fists. Inu no Taisho looked at his son with a pleading look on his face. "You are right, that I will not survive a battle with Takemaru, especially considering that I have little time left before I can save her." Inu no Taisho held his head down, and stared at the ground. "I do not wish to leave them knowing that their lives will always be in danger. I need you to watch over them in my place, Sesshomaru, my son."_

"_If you plan to let yourself die tonight for their sake, then I will personally see to it that they are killed by morning," Sesshomaru was seething inside. First his father will not allow him to have the Tetsusaiga, and now he wants him to protect a pathetic human and a hanyou? Such a waste of effort..._

"_Please, Sesshomaru..." Inu no Taisho knew that he and his son had some problems with each other in the past, and because he always thought that it was his fault for their issues, he never asked Sesshomaru a favour in his life. "I need you for this, my son... I just need you to fulfil this one request for me... if you cannot find it in your heart to protect Izayoi, then will you please make sure your brother or sister lives a long and happy life?"_

"_Never would I degrade myself so terribly as to protect a hanyou..."_

"_Just this one request, Sesshomaru... please..." Inu no Taisho looked up to his son with a pleading face. He hated doing this to Sesshomaru, asking him to do the one thing he new would be the hardest for his son._

_Sesshomaru gave a 'humph' as a response, and looked away from his father in pure annoyance._

"_I do not have much time left, I must leave you now..." Inu no Taisho turned away and looked to the moon as if for reassurance. "Please, take care of yourself, and if you can find it in your heart, protect the last of your kin..." and with that Inu no Taisho rose into the air. His body began to give off a bright blue light as it engulfed his body and his appearance morphed into that of a giant demon dog. He took off into the night sky to save his newborn child and lover, leaving Sesshomaru behind under the dark night sky._

_-End of Flashback-_

Inu no Taisho wanted to know about Inuyasha's life. If he was happy, if he was a strong fighter, if he enjoyed the Tetsusaiga, and how his mother was. He knew Izayoi would not be alive, he was told by Lily that at least two hundred years had already passed by, so there's no way that she would have lived that long. Asking Sesshomaru about Inuyasha, however, would not be a good idea.

"I am glad to see that you are well."

Sesshomaru did not even bother to give his father a response.

Inu no Taisho raked his brain for a different topic idea. "I trust the Western Lands are even better than ever."

Still no response from Sesshomaru.

Inu no Taisho was starting to get slightly angry. Sesshomaru was always like this with him, ever since he was told his mother died. Sesshomaru seemed to think that it was his father's fault that she was not with him any longer, and Inu no Taisho could only cast his eyes down, and take the treatment from his son. In many ways, it was his fault Sesshomaru's mother was not around.

It seemed like hours of bitter and uncomfortable silence between him and Sesshomaru until he sensed the auras of Inuyasha and Lavender returning. Inuyasha walked into the clearing and gave Sesshomaru a smug look as he sat down. He had, and always will, been thinking about how his father favours him over Sesshomaru, even though they never, _truly_ met.

"I'm going to bed, kay Captain?" Lavender stood beside Inu no Taisho's sitting form, and bent down to look him straight in the face as she spoke. "I just wanted to let you know." Ever since she met him when she and her twin brought Inu no Taisho back, she had instantly thought of him as a father. So, she treated him like one, by telling him everything she thought a father ought to know.

"Good night then, Lavender,"

"G'night," she gave out a loud yawn, and laid down back-to-back with Lily, who was holding Saria in her arms as they slept. It only took a few minutes for Lavender to fall into a light sleep on the cold hard ground. She would complain about the terrible sleeping arrangements in the morning.

"Inuyasha..." Inu no Taisho was determined to get an answer out of his son this time. "I hope the Tetsusaiga has been a helpful companion during your battles."

Inuyasha's ears perked up at the mention if his greatest possession. He could talk about his trusty sword forever with fiery passion. "The Tetsusaiga? DAMN STRAIGHT it's helpful! It's the most POWERFUL weapon in the world! You should see the things I've done to it, like giving it the power to destroy even the TOUGHEST of barriers!"

Inu no Taisho's lips curled into a small smile, and his once tensed shoulders relaxed. Inuyasha was certainly proud of Tetsusaiga, and it was a topic they were both comfortable talking about.

"Yes, it can destroy strong barriers," Miroku stiffled a yawn, and rubbed his eyes. "But the strongest barrier is Naraku's and you can't destroy his..."

"Why are you still up? Go back to sleep! You weak humans need your sleep so that we can leave first thing in the morning!"

"I would be sleeping, had you not woken me up with your loud boasting,"

"I'm not loud!" Inuyasha 'huffed' and turned his back on the monk.

"Inuyasha, SIT!"

Inuyasha gave a startled jump, and covered both of his ears with his hands as if he would not go crashing to the ground if he did not hear her say it. But nothing happened.

Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes and saw Kagome standing all tall and mighty beside... a sleeping Kagome? "Shippo, you little runt! Get over here!"

The little fox gave out a little yelp, and transformed back to normal in a puff of smoke. He turned and sprinted in the opposite direction as a little, tan, fluff ball, however he was not fast enough and was caught by Inuyasha. He commenced beating the poor child over the head with his fist, until Lavender woke up and told him off.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she was angry to have been woken up just after she managed to fall asleep. "Do you know how badly jet lag screws up your sleeping pattern? Do you know how difficult the transition from soft, comfy, bed to cold, wet, ground is? Huh? _Huh? _HUH?"

Inuyasha was shocked beyond words and his mouth kept opening and closing because he did not know what to say. Instead he sat Indian-style, with a pout on his face, at the base of the tree farthest from Lavender, but still in the group. He did not even notice that he was sharing the tree with Sesshomaru, he was so afraid of Lavender that he just wanted to get away. Far away. Meanwhile, Shippo found cover in Kagome's warm embrace, under the soft covers of her sleeping bag.

Lavender sighed, and sat up to look Inuyasha straight in the eye. "I'm sorry, Little Guy... I just get cranky when people wake me up, and I've been having a bad couple of days because I keep getting screwed over at my job, and all that jazz... I don't mean it personally... we cool? We all good?"

"Uh... yeah, of course..." Inuyasha gave a fake, cheerful smile. Lavender gave him an overly cheerful smile that made Inuyasha think that it too was fake, when in reality she was just far too tired to control the magnitude of her grin. He looked back to his father to start up a conversation. The silence was ringing in his ears, and he was twitching under its presence.

"Just ignore her, uncle Inuyasha..." Saria mumbled quietly. "She's been like that for as long as I can remember..." she yawned and scratched her head under her multi-coloured hair. Then she let out a frustrated growl. "Grrrrgh! I HATE not being able to sleep!"

"Did I wake you up too?" he asked her, with his ears flat against his head. He wasn't even that loud, so why was everyone waking up?

"No, no, no..." Saria sighed, and stood up. The silver little platform appeared before her, and she stepped onto it, letting it float over to Inuyasha's side. "I always have a hard time sleeping... I get nightmares sometimes, which makes me wake up, and not fall back asleep, so then I just go and sleep in mommy's room," Saria said it mechanically, as if she always told people about having nightmares. Inuyasha was slightly shocked that only after knowing his niece for a day, she already told him her secrets (but then he realized that other people were awake to hear and that it probably wasn't a secret at all...)

"This time though," she continued. "I just can't sleep because I _hate_ camping... it's soo... uncomfortable, and there's bugs everywhere, and I like to see a roof above my head when I sleep."

"Oh..." She was still floating on her little silver platform beside him. Inuyasha had seen it a couple of times already, and still didn't know what it was. So he asked. "What is that thing?" he pointed at the platform, and Saria followed his finger with her golden gaze.

"Oh! That's Ukiki," she said with a huge smile plastered on her face. Inuyasha gave her a funny look with his eyebrows raised. When he did not reply, she continued. "Mama says that because of my blood, something crazy happened, and these two popped out of my body when I was born!"

Inuyasha turned to Lavender for an explanation. Saria was a very strange character... she seemed a lot weirder compared to how she was earlier in the day. _She's probably just tired..._ Inuyasha thought.

"Well, Saria's mixture of demonic and magical blood gives her some... interesting powers..." Sesshomaru, Miroku, and Shippo all paid close attention to Lavender. Inu no Taishou had already heard the story, and even had some theories of his own. "She's part demon, one quarter human, and one quarter witch, or sorceress, because I'm also part sorceress."

"So then she's not a half-demon then?" Shippo asked. He crawled out from inside Kagome's sleeping bag, and settled himself next to Lavender.

"Well, for seven years we were completely lost..." Lavender gave out an exasperated sigh after remembering the times her daughter completely confused them with her many different demon habits. "See, she shows so many signs of being a full-demon--" Saria puffed out her chest with pride. She was proud to know that she could be so much like her powerful taiyoukai father. "For example, she can transform into a more demonic form. Not that I've seen a demon transform before, but we know what she's doing because her aura changes and it's almost exactly identical to Sesshomaru's aura."

"Inuyasha can transform into a full demon as well though," Miroku wisely stated. "So perhaps Saria is transforming just as Inuyasha does."

"But that doesn't make sense..." Shippo said wisely, however due to his small stature he was not able to obtain the same air of wisdom as Miroku could. "Inuyasha only transforms when his life is in danger, but we always thought that Kagome's era was a safe place," Shippo's eyes widened and he started speaking quickly, worried for the safety of his mother figure. "If Inuyasha transforms into a full-demon and Saria transforms into one too, and half-demons only transform if their lives are in danger then that means that Saria's life is in danger, and so is Kagome's when they're in Kagome's era!"

"What?" Lavender's eyes widened, and she was fully awake. She adopted the loving affection of a mother and waded through the sleeping bodies of Kagome, Sango, Kirara, Rin, Ah-Un and her sister then kneeled down in front of Inuyasha to take is face in her hands. "You only transform when you're LIFE is in danger? How often does this happen? I don't wanna hear that my darling Inuyasha's LIFE has been in danger more than once!" She pulled him into the tightest hug she could manage, intending to never let go. Inuyasha let out gasps of air, and pleas for her to loosen her grip. She complied, but settled herself next to him, with her arms around his waist.

"It's not that big of a deal, okay?" Inuyasha consoled her feebly. He did not notice the serious and desolate look on his father's face. He did not like the thought of Inuyasha transforming, and in the long run loosing his soul to his demonic half.

"If you say so..." Lavender, in turn, gave him a worried smile.

Through all the commotion her mother was creating, Saria directed Ukiki to the farther side of her father. "She's talking about me again," she smiled widely up at Sesshomaru, and let Ukiki disappear from beneath her, and she plopped safely on the ground next to him. Two silver orbs dissolved into her body, and she continued talking, but in a low whisper. "She's always talking about me. Aunt Lily says it's because she loves me so much that she can't stop."

She blushed and Sesshomaru couldn't help but feel a little happy. He did not know why, but her presence there, beside him, made his heart flutter when she smiled. Of course he did not understand why. It was some kind of emotion, and he didn't like it. But that smile was just too innocent and too beautiful to hate or ignore. Saria looked as though she could be beautiful no matter how she looked. Fake multi-coloured hair or covered from head to toe in mud, she would always be his beautiful little daughter.

Lavender had her head resting on Inuyasha's shoulder, deep in thought. "Where was I...?"

"You were telling us about the ways Saria resembles a full-blooded demon," Miroku reminded her. He could tell, just from the one day, that the journey was going to be a long one. Lavender was obsessive over Inuyasha, could not stay on topic if her life depended on it, and their meeting was so quick and forgotten that none of their answers were answered. He had a feeling that he'd be explaining all of this new information to Kagome and Sango tomorrow, just so that they do not get behind in terms of explanations.

"Ah yes, my awesome, amazing demon-child... Well... She can transform whenever she wants. I don't like it when she does though, her looks change and she loses her sparkly silver hair, and her pretty amber eyes..."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha looked Lavender in the eye with a horrified expression, and asked innocently. "You mean she loses her hair and eyes when she transforms?"

Lavender stared Inuyasha in the eye with a serious expression, and her lips shut tight. "Yes. She loses her hair and eyes and they grow back when she..." her shoulders started shaking up and down, and her serious face fell into an expression of humour induced pain as she clutched her sides suffering from silent laugher. "Ah heh... he... hehe.. ha... Okay, enough of that. No. Her hair changes to black, and her eyes change to brown. In fact, she looks just like me when she transforms... But Sesshomaru's better looking so I'd rather her look like him instead."

"Feh.."

"Annnnywho... She can also turn into a dog."

There was a silence that followed the end of her statement. She was so blunt that they thought there was something more to it.

"She can transform into a dog?"

"Yep."

"Really?" Miroku butted in sounding fascinated by the subject.

"Yep."

"Like Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked, with a slight hint of jealousy.

"I dunno... I've never seen him transform before... How bout Saria just shows you guys what I mean?"

"Yes, I'd be very interested to see this transformation of hers," said Miroku, almost eagerly.

"Saria, show 'em what 'cha got!"

However, unbeknownst to them, she was already fast asleep hidden behind her father, with her head leaning against his leg.

"Saria?" Lavender crawled over Inuyasha, following the aura of her daughter beside Sesshomaru. She saw the beautiful sight of her daughter sleeping so peacefully beside the man she loved, despite the fact that he banished her from his lands, and threatened to kill her. Yet when they first saw each other after so long Sesshomaru showed no intentions of killing her. _What a lying jackass..._ Lavender thought as she gave Sesshomaru a genuinely happy smile. Sesshomaru simply gave her a blank look, then turned his attention ahead of him at nothing in particular.

"Um, forget it..." Lavender took her seat next to Inuyasha again. "You'll see it sometime, but she's sleeping and I don't wanna wake her..."

"Of course not," Miroku started sincerely. "I would never ask you to wake up your child. Did I ever tell you about how much I love children? I'd like to have some of my own you see, and I was wondering if-" Inuyasha let out a small growl, and chucked a rock at Miroku's head. A slight bump formed, and Miroku shut up instantly and sulked.

"Go on Lavender," Inuyasha prompted.

"Okay, well," Lavender gathered her thoughts, and then continued. "She has shown so many full-demon abilities, but never any human ones."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha asked harshly. He would be angry if by 'human abilities' she meant 'transforming into a human on certain nights'.

Lavender narrowed her eyes at him for his harsh voice, and answered. "Well, we've just never seen any before, that might be human. Then Inu no Taisho told us about how half-demons have a certain time when they become humans, but Saria doesn't have a time like that."

Inuyasha's left eye began twitching involuntarily.

"Really?" Shippo pondered for a moment, and a slight grin adorned his face. "So all of this means that Saria, who's only seven years old, is more of a demon than Inuyasha is, and doesn't even have the same pathetic weakness that Inuyasha has, and he's, I dunno, fifty years old?"

"I'M OLDER THAN THAT, YOU RUNT!" Inuyasha dealt a swift punch to Shippo's head, who, once again, hid under the covers of Kagome's sleeping bag.

"Shhh!" Lavender held her fingers to her lips. "Don't wake everyone up, kay?"

"Feh..."

Miroku sighed, and prompted Lavender to continue her little story.

"So yeah... we figured that Saria's human abilities had-"

"Humans don't have _abilities_..." Inuyasha whispered to himself. Lavender heard however, and elaborated for him.

"By human abilities I mean she doesn't show any... uh... well what I really mean to say is weaknesses." she gave a pathetic little smile to Inuyasha. "I use 'abilities' to make it sound better... Well, she shows none, so we decided that they had to go somewhere, and that silver platform she called Ukiki is what we call her 'human abilities'."

"So that would mean that her human blood is, in a sense, separate from her body?" said Miroku.

"Exactly."

"But that doesn't seem very _human_ to me..." Inuyasha huffed.

"Well, her human half is also part witch, which is why we figure the human part separated from her body, creating Ukiki."

"I thought you said that the magic in her blood is separate from the human." Miroku inquired.

"It is... see, Ukiki is actually two parts. One is called Uki, and the other is Kiki. I can't tell the difference between them because they're always hiding in Saria's body, so I don't have the chance to memorize which is which, and they move too fast to keep track of them."

"So what are they exactly?" Shippo's voice was barely audible from under the covers.

"We don't know for sure, but we've settled to calling them her 'human and magical blood'... or spirit... whatever..." Lavender yawn, sleep had caught up to her and she was ready for a nice long rest.

"What do Uki and Kiki do?" Miroku asked. He was interested to know what kind of things a 'human and magical spirit' could accomplish. "We've seen the platform Saria stands on, but do they do anything else?"

"Oh yeah, they're amazing..." Lavender yawned a gain, and laid down at the spot beside Inuyasha, curling up next to him. "They're like an extra set of super arms... they can do all this neat stuff... I'm gonna go to bed... I'll make Saria show you guys in the morn... nighty-nights..."

"Good night," Inuyasha got comfortable against his tree, and rested his chin on his chest to relax. When he was completely relaxed, he noticed how close he was to Sesshomaru, and tensed up a little. He didn't remember sitting near Sesshomaru, but he did remember Lavender scaring him _towards_ Sesshomaru...

Miroku and Shippo followed suit. Sesshomaru stayed as he was. He wanted to leave the area, but he rather enjoyed the company of his daughter, and did not wish to wake her up. She was so young after all. Of course, he denied his thoughts and used 'I must stay where I am in order to protect Rin. The Hanyou is useless, as are the others' as an excuse for staying still.

Inu no Taishou stood up, and left the camp to do some random roaming around in his old lands. He did not want to be surrounded by all of the sleeping people. It would be a long and boring, not to mention an awkward (with Sesshomaru there) wait for them to wake up. He is dead after all, and dead people don't need sleep.

* * *

He stalked his castle all night and all day. He never used to do that before, but now that _he_ is living in his home, he felt restless. He really didn't like _him_... _He_ was a disgusting creature. A creature he couldn't name. Well, it had a name, but he did not believe it fit _him _very well. If something did not have a name, it usually meant that there was nothing known of it, and therefore something that should possibly be feared. Well, he did not fear anyone or anything... but some people and things give him the creeps... 

He found himself in one of his favourite rooms. His Library. It was a small one, but it had every book he could ever need, and also the materials he needed to write his own books. There was probably only a hundred books in there, but how many books do you need on one topic? He was very interested in astronomy, even before he was trapped here. There was a crystal ball, a large one that was probably a metre in diameter, which he used to see what people did, and what they learned, so he could then transfer the information into his own books. He saw everything that happened in the world with his crystal, which was a handy thing indeed.

He stopped to look out a window. It was the same scene everyday: a roaring wall of fire that trapped him in his castle for all eternity, never to escape and get some fresh air. The wall was probably a kilometre away in all directions, like the radius of a circle, but he knew the thickness of it was probably hundreds, or even thousands of kilometres thick. His home simply floated around in the middle of the giant sphere, on a platform of dirt that was dragged away with his castle. He hated the air in his home. It smelt too earthy. Every so often, a part of his castle would just crumble away from being too old. There were bits of debris floating around and some gathered and clumped together making them look like small islands orbiting his castle.

He sensed the disgusting creature's aura float into the library he found himself in after his aimless roaming.

"Hiro-sama..."

"Na-" a magical force kept him from allowing the rest of the name escape his mouth. "Jewel... my dear Jewel, how did you manage to copy his soul? I figured Naraku would be a difficult foe. I am impressed" Hiro's voice was low and smooth as he praised her.

"Now now, Hiro," Jewel spoke in same drawl as Naraku. She was identical to him in every possible way, from the appearance, to the memories. "I have my ways... have faith in me." Her Naraku-look-alike body began to dissolve, and the figure of a tall and slim woman appeared. Her body was semi-transparent, and held a tint of light pink. It looked as though the slightest touch would shatter her body because it looked just like fragile glass. Her eyes were beautiful, anyone could get lost in the icy blue gaze, and her hair was tied back into two dark pink coloured, thick ponytails. She did not wear anything that could be considered clothing, instead she wore small white cloths wrapped around her breasts and hips. "When are we sending him back there?" her voice was crisp and clear when she spoke.

"Soon... very soon..." Hiro pondered, and tossed his straight dark green hair out of his eyes. His bangs were always in his eyes, and tickling the back of his neck, but he never had the courage to cut it. His hair, according to him, looked sexy in a rebel kind of way, and he was all about appearances. Hiro even practiced his smile in the mirror sometimes, seeing what was the best grin to make his sexy light orange eyes stand out more. He wore knight's armour, but added his own special touch. The armour he wore was tainted black, and the clothing he wore beneath it was a purple so dark it looked black. He wanted to seem as mysterious as possible; he knew women liked a mysterious man. "I should tell him our plans..."

"You already did that,"

"Ah yes, that's right... I did..." he scratched his head and sighed. "The guy is just creepy... I can just picture him turning into pile of mud... what with all those disgusting demons he calls a body... they'll probably die on him, the weak little things," he lowered his voice to a whisper, and leaned towards Jewel, and she leaned towards him to hear better. "I don't like demons you know..."

"Really?" she whispered back.

"Really, really... they're vile creatures, demons..." Hiro's lips formed a lopsided grin, one that looked almost insane. "See? The mere fact that I can say it means it's true."

Jewel's lips formed the same lopsided grin, as she asked him the question she had wanted the answer to ever since Naraku entered their castle. "What'll we do when we're done with him? How'll we kill him?"

"I want it to be a surprise... for you, my dear Jewel, and for him..." Hiro chuckled lightly, and they stood up straight. In unison, they turned their backs to each other, and exited out of opposite doors with maniacal grins on their faces.

* * *

Saria was running through a dense moonlit forest as fast as she possibly could. Why was she running? She didn't know... all she knew was that she had to keep running or something bad would happen.

She felt utterly weak, as if something was taken away from her. She looked at her hands, half-expecting them to be clawless, and half-expecting her skin would be green or something. She did not know what to think of the situation, and anything could happen. When she did see her hands, there was nothing wrong. She was normal. But why did she have that weak, frightened feeling?

Saria started to get tired of running from something that may or may not be chasing her, so she called on Ukiki to carry her away instead. It was something she only had to think about, and they would be there in the form she wanted. As easy as that. But they did not show up this time.

"Uki? Kiki?" Saria stopped. She was puzzled that they could be somewhere, and she did not know where. She always knows where they are, always. But this time she did not, and it frightened her to no end.

Saria's body started trembling as she heard them coming, whatever they were. It sounded like a stampede of thousands of warriors coming her way. She turned to face them, but what she saw made her stomach clench. There was nothing in the world that she feared more than the creatures in front of her.

There were three of them, but they were so large that their heads were in the clouds blocking the stars in the night sky, and they had to tear away the trees just to be able to see their target. Which they did. Saria flung herself on the ground and covered her head with her hands to protect herself from the falling chunks of earth and animals falling out of their homes that were being thrown away by giants.

Saria started to cry, and call for her mother. If there was one person in the world that could make her feel safe it was her. She cried, because these creatures were not supposed to be so big, in fact, they were supposed to be her size. Them being giants made Saria feel as if there was no escape, and their effects would be stronger. So she cried softly, waiting for them to attack her. She was curled up on the ground, cowering in fear, she felt as though her life was about to be sucked away into a dark abyss. Her mind began to race with images of her family and friends being tortured and killed, and when she saw her mother in one of the images she began to sob.

That's what these creatures did. They entered your minds and sent images into your brain that might frighten you. The giants saw how badly the image of her mother being tortured, and chuckled. Their laughs were loud and booming and shook the earth, and vibrated in Saria's chest. The images stopped, and Saria looked up at them.

Their heads were shaped like a football, and their grins stretched literally from ear to ear, taking up half of their face. They had long and thin razor sharp teeth revealed in their insane smile. The eyes of each creature were basically slits because of their huge grin forcing them shut. Saria liked it better that way because their eyes were black, and when ever she looked into the eyes of one her body became paralysed with fear, and she felt trapped and isolate looking into them. Their bodies looked like a humanoid insect. Their limbs were long and thin, and when they walked around they used their hands because they were longer than their legs, which reminded Saria of gorillas. The bodies of the creatures did not really look like bodies at all, but rather a flat board, which the limbs were connected to. Dull-gold, reptilian-like skin covered the giants from head to toe.

Saria stopped crying. The monsters stopped laughing, and a pinkish glow appeared beneath the middle creature. It was the size of a person, but that was all Saria could tell. The thing came closer, but the glow did not disappear so she all she could see was the slim outline of a woman.

"That's what scares you the most, my little darling?" the woman spoke in a very clear voice, that rung in Saria's ears and frightened her. She did not respond, instead she tried to look as strong as possible in the presence of the three terrifying monsters. "Let's have some fun..."

A jet-black dome was created around Saria and the woman, blocking out any light from the stars or moon from entering. The only source of light was the pink glow emitting from the woman.

In a flash, Lavender appeared in the middle of the dome, sleeping between Saria and the woman. She stirred awake for a moment, and opened her eyes to see Saria.

"Morning, baby!" Lavender spoke to Saria in that comfortingly soft voice only her mother could achieve. When Saria did not respond, Lavender got up quickly, and noticed the pink, glowing woman. "Who're you?"

"Your worst nightmare," the woman spoke in a crisp and cheerful voice, and she extended a slim hand towards Lavender, and clutched her fist. At the same time, Lavender clutched her chest, and crumbled to the ground in pain.

Saria was too frightened to let out even a yelp as her mother hit the ground. Lavender stood there squirming, and screaming in pain. Saria tried to help by calming down her mother, but her voice was too stunned and scared to say anything. Instead, she rubbed her mother's back, and cried.

Lavender's screams were getting louder, and her thrashing was getting worse as well. Saria wanted to attack the terrible woman right then and there, but she felt far too weak without Ukiki and did not know how to fight back. Her mind was completely frozen.

Lavender stopped thrashing, and rolled on her back. She let out a sigh of relief when the pain was over, and so did Saria who flung herself into her mother's chest. All of a sudden Saria felt her mother getting warmer, then hotter. Eventually Saria couldn't take the heat and pulled away. Lavender's expression was that of surprise and pain, and then she let out a terribly painful scream.

Saria covered her ears, and closed her eyes. Her mother kept screaming painfully, and Saria could smell the scent of burning flesh. When she opened her eyes she saw her mother's chest ablaze, but her body was not burning away. It was an eternal burning and suffering.

Saria's eyes widened in fear, and she screamed for her mother. "MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

"Saria," a distant voice spoke to her, and she recognized it as her mother's. "Hey baby, wake up..." Saria's eyes shot open, and she sat up instantly as she realized that she had been dreaming again. She had to squint because her eyes were not yet adjusted to the morning light. 

She was no longer sitting next to her father, but between Inuyasha and Lily, with her mother in front of her. Kagome and Sango were standing over Inuyasha's shoulder watching to make sure Saria was all right, and Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara were behind them. Inu no Taishou was standing at Lily's shoulder, worried about his little granddaughter, and Sesshomaru was standing the farthest away behind Lavender, with Rin hiding behind his legs, and Jaken beside him with Ah-Un. Rin was frowning into Sesshomaru's legs. She knew what it was like to have such scary nightmares. She often had them of her parents and brother being killed by bandits.

Ukiki was directly beside Saria, floating as a little silver platform, waiting for her to get on to carry her away. Saria gave it a confused look, not exactly sure why it was like that.

"Baby..." Lavender cooed over her daughter. "You were sweating and thrashing around in your sleep... did you have a bad nightmare?"

Saria looked at her mother with a confused look, then realization dawned on her. "Ohhh, that's right..." Saria opened her arms wide to Ukiki, who morphed into two teddy bears and landed in her embrace. "Even in my sleep Uki and Kiki still try to protect me!" she said happily while cuddling Uki and Kiki close to her.

Lily sighed and murmured. "Like mother, like daughter..." They were both able to easily forget the situation at hand.

Her point was proven when Lavender affectionately sighed and pat Uki and Kiki on their little teddy bear heads. "How sweet of them..."

Saria rubbed her eyes clean of the sand in her eyes from sleep, and felt how sweaty she was. "I need a bath..."

"To the stream!" Lavender scooped up her baby girl, and walked away from the camp, only to stop and realize she didn't know where to go.

"We'll be right back..." Lily picked up Saria's little black backpack, assuming that there was tons of shampoo and body wash in there (Saria was a hygienic clean freak, so it would only make sense for her to bring her own supply). Lily dragged Lavender in the opposite direction of where she was originally heading, and took her to where the stream was.

The group stared after them, not exactly sure what had just occurred.

"What just happened here?" Kagome asked no one in particular.

"She says she always gets nightmares," Inuyasha replied, and sat back down at the base of his tree. "This must be pretty common for them..."

"She was so frightened looking in her sleep though," Sango said sadly. "I feel sorry for her if this happens often..."

"She's a strong girl though, not to mention intelligent," Inu no Taisho stated with pride of his granddaughter. "She can handle almost anything that comes her way."

Rin went to Ah-Un to pet him. She felt bad for Saria too, because at least with herself, her nightmares haven't been as bad because she is with Sesshomaru. She even had a dream once where Sesshomaru actually saved her family from the bandits. _If Sesshomaru-sama makes my bad dreams go away, then he can probably do the same with Saria!_ Rin thought happily. Saria will soon find that her nightmares are going to disappear the more she stays with Sesshomaru. Rin giggled, and started humming her own little tune happily.

_Stupid child_, Jaken thought angrily as he noticed Rin being happy over supposedly nothing. Sesshomaru noticed the little death glares his servant was sending Rin, and glared at him. Jaken felt his master's gaze, and instantly looked away, whistling non-existent tunes.

"What was with those silver bears too? Where'd they come from?" Kagome asked Inuyasha, who seemed to be the one to know everything at the moment.

"Let Miroku explain, I don't feel like it..." Inuyasha waved her aside with his hand, and Kagome huffed.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything to you and Sango right now," Miroku said quickly, stopping the fight that was just about to happen. Then he started to tell them everything Lavender told them last night, and everyone settled themselves on the ground again, waiting for Saria and the twins to return.

* * *

Lavender, Lily and Saria reached a shallow stream, and Saria excitedly stripped off her clothes and splashed in the water, with Uki and Kiki floating above each of Saria's shoulders in their true form, small silver spheres that were at least an inch in diameter. They were usually shy around other people, and only came out if Saria wanted them too. Only Saria's mother, aunt, and their three closest friends ever saw Uki and Kiki in their true form. 

"What did you have a dream about this time, baby?" Lavender asked her daughter in her caring motherly voice.

"Remember those scary monsters I usually dream about?" Saria asked absentmindedly while she lathered her body wash and washed herself. She had to sit in the water to get fully wet because the stream was so shallow.

"Yeah,"

"Well there was three giant ones," Lavender gave an involuntary shiver at the mention of the giant monsters. She used to have bad dreams with similar monsters, so she knew how scary it must have been. "And there was some woman that was glowing pink. She made this dome thingy, and brought you in there and..." Saria stopped and looked at her mother with a sad look. "And she started torturing you and I couldn't do anything about it..."

"It was just a dream, don't let it bother you baby..." Lavender scratched Saria behind the ears, and she gave a sweet smile to her mother. "Now... to get ride of that crazy colour in your hair..."

Saria grinned sheepishly and her mother applied a large amount of soap to her hair. "You better hope this is cheap dye, or we'll be here for a while..."

Lily in the meantime was sitting on a rock, letting the sun bath her in its warmth, hoping to get a nice tan.

Thirty minutes passed before Lavender managed to scrub away all of the different colours, and her natural, silky silver hair gleamed in the morning light. Saria was happy for it to be over because her scalp felt raw due to all the scrubbing. Lavender instead cracked her sore fingers, and passed Saria a towel to dry off. Lily was half asleep on the rock, and slightly red.

"Uh, Lil..." Lavender was not sure how to break the bad news for her sister, so she decided to do it slowly. "I think you're... um... burning, not tanning..."

"Huh?" Lily snapped out of her little dream-like state, and then registered what her sister said. "What!" she looked over her body, and remembered that she forgot to put on her suntan lotion. "Oh noooo! What am I supposed to do now?"

Lavender reached into Saria's bag and pulled out a bottle of suntan lotion. She could always count on Saria for being afraid of skin cancer and having a bottle around. "Here," she tossed it to her sister. "Knock yourself out..."

Saria was done drying off, and Lily was finished frantically applying the lotion, so they left back for camp. The group gathered themselves together, picked up their bags, and continued their little journey on the dirt road. Inuyasha and Kagome with Shippo on her shoulder were leading the group, then Miroku with Sango and Kirara on her shoulder came up next, then the twins, and then Sesshomaru, with his father, came up after them. Ah-Un being lead by Jaken with Rin and Saria riding his back brought up the rear.

They barely even started walking when a man came running at them from behind a bush. He was your average peasant, but one with a strange insane look on his face. He pushed his way through Inuyasha and Kagome, then Miroku and Sango, and stopped directly in front of the twins.

"You two!" he pointed his finger in their faces, alternating from one to the other.

"What?" Lavender asked rudely and impatiently. She did not feel the need to be polite to someone who was sticking his finger in her face.

"Take off your shirts!"

"What the...?" Inuyasha had an incredulous look on his face, as did Kagome and Miroku. Sango looked angry, Sesshomaru looked normal, and the rest were simply curious as to what was going to happen next.

"No thanks," Lily responded coolly. "I wanna keep mine on."

"Remove your clothing at once!" was the mad man's response.

"HOW 'BOUT YOU MAKE ME, PERV!" Lavender felt her temper rising. Why did men have to be so horny? "What's wrong with people in this era? They're either insane or inane... The only normal one is my Inuyasha. He's the only non-insane, and non-inane person in this entire era, right Little Guy?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her, _She's rambling again... _"If anyone doesn't agree with me, then they'll have to answer to my fi-"

"Impudent _human_..." the crazy man before them started to twitch and twist, as if he was having some kind of muscle spasm. Everyone backed away from the man, except for Sesshomaru and Inu no Taisho who of course felt no need to, and took on a defensive stance. He was clearly unbalanced, so who knew what he could do. "I do not have the time to waste on your useless chatter." The man's back arched backwards, his head almost touching the ground. He took a deep breath, and flung himself forward. As he did so, he let out his breath with such great force that Lily had to hold on to Lavender to keep from blowing away, and Rin and Jaken had to grab hold of Sesshomaru.

The man's body began to spark with electric-blue electricity, and he directed the electric current towards his two targets by the wind he was creating with his lungs. The twins' bodies were shocked, however they felt only a tingle rather than pain. The man stopped blowing, and held his hands in front of him, cupped together.

"What the fuck does he think he's doing?" Lavender exclaimed vehemently. Inuyasha rushed in front of the twins, intending to protect them.

"Back off, ya weak human, or you'll have to answer to me," Inuyasha cracked his claws to make a point, and ignored Lavender's shudder at the sound; "eeew... so effing gross...".

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Lily sighed. Lavender took her thoughts to heart, and attached herself to Inuyasha's arm for protection.

The man slowly opened his cupped hands to reveal a small yellow flame. He took another deep breath, but this time he let it out slowly and softly. At first bits of the flame began to fly off in their direction, and no one felt as though there was a hazard, but then the entire flame grew, and the yellow fire was blasted against Inuyasha's and the twins' upper bodies. Sesshomaru got Rin and Jaken to safety, and Inu no Taisho dodged the blast of fire as well, but Lily and Lavender stayed and took on the full blast. Behind Inuyasha's robe of the Fire Rat, of course. When the man stopped blowing, the yellow blaze died away.

"Ha!" Inuyasha cried out after checking on his clothes and well-being. "You can't hurt me with fire! I'm immune to it!" he laughed haughtily and puffed out his chest.

"Maybe you are, but we aren't..." Inuyasha looked back to the twins to see that the fire still got to them, despite hiding behind Inuyasha. Their shirts were completely burnt away revealing their breasts, and the top part of their pants and skirt were charred up as well. Their hair was askew, and their faces held identical looks of surprise. The fire was not meant to burn skin, but their clothing instead. Inuyasha abruptly turned around, with his face burning red. Miroku made a little 'oh!' sound that was not unheard by Sango, who immediately slapped him.

"Step aside, fool!" the mad man thrust his hand out, and Inuyasha, being caught off-guard, felt himself being blown off his feet and pushed back behind the twins by the force of wind thrown at him. The man studied the twins' breasts, looking for something in particular. He had a free viewing because the two girls were still quite shocked that a fire engulfed them, yet they had not burnt, so they did not register their nudity right away.

Directly above Lavender's heart, was an image of a heart-shaped crystal. "It is not ablaze, master. What is the meaning of this?"

Lily was the first to recover, as she crossed her arms across her chest quickly. "Inuyasha, may I please borrow your haori? It's starting to feel a little cold out here..."

"Uh, sure," Inuyasha removed his Fire Rat jacket, and shyly handed it to her while avoiding eye contact at all costs. Lily put it on, and tightly wrapped it around her waist and held it closed with her hand.

"Iiiinuuuuyaaaashaaaa!" Lavender too crossed her arms around her chest and hurried to bury her face in his chest.

"Wh-what're you doing?" he wanted to push her away, but considering her state of undress he felt too awkward to do so.

"Gimme your shirt! I feel like I'm being calculated by horny people and I don't like it! I need to cover up; I hate it when people stare! Hurry, hurry, hurry!" she whined, hurting Inuyasha's sensitive ears.

"Then stop making a scene about it!" he said as he clumsily pulled off his white shirt and gave it to her.

Lavender quickly pulled it on, and looked around. Everyone, aside from Sesshomaru, was giving her a funny look with an eyebrow raised at her actions. She quickly hid her face in Inuyasha's now unclothed chest like an embarrassed child clinging to their mother. However in this case it was an embarrassed Lavender clinging to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, and turned his attention to the man who attacked them. He seemed to be talking to himself while seemingly looking at Inuyasha, but instead he was simply blanked out.

The man's voice was cracked and weak as he spoke, "but master, I do not understand who else might be carrying the blaze... the girl has the image of the crystal above her heart, but not the fire, and they are the only ones who are supposed to possess it... I thought you had said that Daiya blood controls it? So if that's the case then- no... Master please...I do not mean to question you, I only-..." the man started shaking and cowering in fear. "I do not mean to displease you mast-" before he could utter the last syllable, his body was struck down by a thick yellow blast of lightning. He died instantly, and lay on the ground as a motionless, burnt crisp.

"What just happened here?" Kagome was the first to pull herself out of the stupor cause by the strange man's actions.

"He must've been controlled by someone," Lily offered as an answer. Her face hardened as she looked to Lavender, who also had a serious expression. "Let's go..."

The twins started walking, and the others all followed after.

"What? Your not going to explain what just happened?" Kagome questioned.

"The man we're looking for sent that peasant," Lavender started, while walking briskly and speaking seriously.

"There's this item we call the Crystalline Heart," Lily continued, mirroring her sister.

"It can enhance, or give anyone, magical powers,"

"It's in Lavender's control right now,"

"Which is why I have the picture of a crystal heart above my heart,"

"But I've used magic to hide them,"

"So that Hiro gets confused and doesn't know which one of us controls the Crystal,"

"And I'm assuming that that electric charge he sent through us was meant to disable the spell and show the image," Lily stopped suddenly. "Why are we going so fast?" she asked Lavender.

"Because we don't want Hiro to watch us," Lavender narrowed her eyes. "Right?"

"If he knew that we hid the image, then that means that he's been watching us from the start..."

Lavender's response was a clueless look.

"No matter how quickly we get there, Hiro is still going to know about us and our plans." Lily sighed, and slapped her hand to her forehead. "He probably already knows everything about us!"

"This Hiro must be a very clever person to be able to keep a constant watch on the two of you," Miroku stated.

"Yes, and I think that it would be wise for us all to understand a little more about him if we are going to fight him," Sango suggested to the twins, hoping that they would have more information on their current target.

"Uh, yeah..." Lily opened her book bag and pulled out the thick, weatherworn diary. "They were married for a year before they fought each other, and had a daughter named Maria." Lily flipped to the right page. "Here's an entry dedicated to Hiro, before their fight.

"'I had learnt earlier this morning that my husband had been deceiving me ever since I met him. When we married, not once did he let me leave the castle. I did not mind because I wanted nothing to do with the outside world, and everything to do with our child and life together. My home is important to me therefore I love the earth. It is very precious to me, but I had learned this morning that Hiro had been destroying it. I went to our room's balcony against his wishes, and saw that the earth was ravished and destroyed. There was no vegetation growing, the animals of the forest were killed and looked like deformed corpses. His monsters, the Beldoule and Felmorte, were taking the humans as slaves, and killed thousands of them for their own amusement. I was not concerned for the mortal, I was however worried about the state of the earth. The land was so cracked and black, that it would take a very large amount of mana to restore it. I wished for Hiro to tell me the truth. I needed him to. So I prepared a potion that would curse him for all eternity. Every word he utters can only be the truth. Even if he tried to lie, the potion will either keep him from speaking it, or force the truth out of him. A fitting curse for a despicable liar.'

"That's good to know, Hiro can't lie. Which means he can't trick us, no matter how hard he tries."

"Good," Inuyasha crossed his arms and had an annoyed expression on his face. "That means he can't be a bastard like Naraku and trick us all the time."

"Anything else?" Lavender asked.

"Um..." Lily scanned the rest of the entry for more information on Hiro. "Nope, nothing else on Hiro. So, we know he has the power to destroy the earth..."

"When was Hiro sealed away?" Inu no Taisho asked, with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Just over seven hundred years, or going by the time we're in now, two hundred years."

"I was alive then, and the land was not destroyed," Inu no Taisho said skeptically.

"Oh?" Lily scratched her chin, absentmindedly letting Inuyasha's red haori flap in the breeze. "Well, Cassandra and Hiro lived in Europe, or somewhere in the United Kingdoms..."

"A different continent from here, so only Europe was destroyed," Lavender said almost cheerfully knowing that her darling Inuyasha was not anywhere near the fighting.

"But we'd know if something like the land dying that taken place though..." Lily said, now thoroughly confused. "I don't get it... there's nothing in the diary about it... Cassandra must have revived the earth, but someone in History would have written down that thousands of people died when Hiro destroyed everything..."

"Maybe Cassandra also revived the people who died, and fixed their memories or something."

"It can't have been that easy..." Lily gave out a frustrated sigh. "At first I thought that we knew everything we needed to know about the situation, but now there are more questions. And we still don't even know if we're dealing with a Hiro from this time, five hundred years in the past, or a Hiro from present times."

"We'll find out, don't worry about it now," Lavender patted Lily's back, who looked as though she was getting a little stressed out. "Let's just get dressed and continue our journey, shall we?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea, especially the part about giving me some clothes..."

The twins went behind some nearby bushes to put on their extra shirts and bras they brought with them, and gave Inuyasha his clothes back.

"Where are we going, exactly?" he asked as he was putting his clothes back on.

"West," the twins both replied in unison.

"I mean specifically."

"Well," Lily took over answering his question. "I sense a huge amount of mana coming from that direction, so it's a good place to start."

"I can sense a large amount of energy coming in that direction too, but it's very faint," Kagome said. Ever since their meeting with the twins, she noticed the energy emanating from there, but everything was so rushed that she forgot about it. "It's very similar to the presence of the Sacred Jewel, but less pure, and more powerful."

"That's what the presence of mana feels like," Lily stated. "It isn't spiritual, so it wouldn't be a pure feeling. It exists everywhere, it's a part of the earth, and I think that's why Cassandra loved the earth so much, because of the mana. It's a nice feeling, isn't it?"

"Huh? Well, I can't really tell."

"When we get closer you'll sense it better, and you'll see what I mean."

"Okay then, let's get the Hell out of here..." Lavender directed everyone into their original set up. Inuyasha was in the lead with Kagome and Shippo, then Miroku, Sango, and Kirara. Next was the twins, then Sesshomaru and Inu no Taisho, along with Ah-Un, Saria, Rin and Jaken following behind them.

**A/N:** Yay. I'm done. Whoopee! Okay, so review please and give me any or all of your comments about the chapter, or story so far. I'm starting to feel like I want some constructive replies... (wink wink, nudge nudge)... and I know for a fact that there's more than just 5 people reading my ficcy... so I'll let you guys know that I'm allowing anonymous reviews... so is members ever feel too lazy to sign in, you can just go ahead and be anonymous... I'm a lazy person, so I know how you might feel nn. ALSO, tell me if you guys would rather a **short** chapter, or a **long** chapter. If it's short, I can get one out sooner, but I know a lot of people like longer chapters so... I dunno, tell me what you guys want.

Well, I hope you guys like this chapter. I dunno if it makes more questions, or answers more... Oh well, if anyone is confused, everything will be revealed in later chapters, so you'll have to keep reading to find out nn.

PS: I'm not going to make any promises for when the next chappie will be out. School is coming closer to an end, therefore the teachers are pilling on the work, so I don't want to make promises I can't keep because I'll have no time to write.

PPS: I've FIXED this one too.


	7. A Dangerous, Kiss?

**A/N:** Whoohoo, lucky chapter 7!

Anywho, I've been like... beyond busy. By beyond, I mean my teachers have this crazy idea that I don't have a life and that I enjoy doing 10 projects at a time while studying for exams within that last month of school. They're crazy I tell ya. Also, my job enjoys randomly calling me in to work... and I enjoy money... therefore I go to work and not have any free time. Oo... However... holidays are here! And I'll have a whole week off work for vacation so hopefully I'll be able to get at least one good chapter out in a week. Hopefully...

PS: I changed the spelling of some of the names (like Sesshoumaru. I really don't know what made me spell it with a 'u' in the middle...), and... well, that's about it. I have begun my correction process!

**Disclaimer:** Ich besitze nicht Inuyasha. (Yay for online translators and German!)

**Chapter 7: A Deadly... Kiss?**

"Naaaaraaaakuuuu! Wheeeere arrrre yoooou?" Hiro stalked the halls of his castle looking for his houseguest. He knew where Naraku was; he just liked to have a little bit of fun. "Ha! That rhymes..." Hiro let out a sad sigh. _I've been trapped here for far too long... I'm gonna go insane soon..._

"You wish to see me, Hiro-sama?" Naraku's voice drawled as he entered the dimly lit dinning room Hiro was in.

"Why yes, yes I do. I think we should try our little plan," Hiro had a dark look in his eye. He enjoyed his plan a lot. It would cause great suffering for his victims. The mental and physical kind of suffering.

"What part of it do you wish to try?" Naraku's drawl was different than usual, more annoyed. He was in fact brought to Hiro's castle involuntarily. Naraku remembered seeing a black circle, bordered with a purple rim, appearing directly in front of him. The circle engulfed him, and he ended up in the dark, musty dinning room of Hiro's castle.

_-Flashback-_

_Naraku was fleeing from Inuyasha and his friends from Ogre's rock when he found himself consumed by the black, purple-rimmed circle. A man with dark green hair, and strikingly orange eyes had greeted him animatedly in the dinning room he found himself in._

"_Naraku! How are you? I hope you're we- did you have a safe journey?" he was about to say 'well', but he changed his mind at the last minute. Naraku took a mental note of it and decided then and there that he was not a trustworthy man._

"_You seem to know who I am, yet I don't believe we have met before," Naraku stated calmly. He is always calm. There was, and never will be, a situation in which he will not be calm. It's just the way he is. He's more intelligent, cunning, and powerful than anyone else, so there's no need for him to be anything but calm._

"_Just call me Hiro, the Lord of the Castle in the Star," he waved his hands toward the window where a wall of fire was burning a thousand metres away._

"_For what reason did you bring me here?"_

"_I need a little help," Hiro took a chair from the mahogany dinning table and swung it around in front of him to sit on it. "I'm in a little predicament. I can't leave the castle. I've also been keeping my eye on the earth, and noticed that my descendants are plotting my death. You see, just recently the barrier around my castle has weakened greatly, but I still can't leave it. I was, however, able to bring you here instead, which is good enough for me." Hiro thought for a moment, and added an after-thought. "That would explain why they're plotting my death, the barrier is weakening and they're afraid of me..." Hiro chuckled. He liked to know that people were afraid of him._

"_I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I do not offer my services to anyone," Naraku drawled, it seemed to him that he might have to force Hiro to send him back to earth._

"_I will collect every piece of the jewel shard together, if you do this favour for me. And I can gather the shards together in a split second, it's as easy as, well, pie," Hiro waved his hand over the table, and a pie materialized in an instant. "I don't suppose you've ever tried pie before? Quite delicious, I especially like pumpkin pie..."_

_Naraku was not exactly sure how to react. Was this man serious? He did not seem like it._

"_Sit down," Hiro pointed to a chair next to him. "And I'll cut you a piece of pie..." he materialized a fork and plate in front of him, and using his magic cut a piece of pie and lifted it onto the plate. He slid the plate and fork down to Naraku, and using his own fork started eating from the pie plate._

"_So...I need you... to do some... research for... me... excuse me," Hiro forcibly swallowed his piece of pie so he could speak better. "See, I'm looking for something, and I need to find out where it is, and how it can be used. I know it's powerful therefore I want it. And, that's about it..."_

"_You want me to be a pawn for your own desires?" Naraku gave a little chuckle, he would never let himself be used._

"_Yeah, that doesn't sound all that great, does it?" Hiro itched his chin, and shifted his bangs out of his eyes. "Well, I can gather the Shikkon no Tama together, and, um... what else are you after?"_

_It certainly was not in Naraku's nature to bargain in such a way with people he knew nothing about, however... "Gather for me the shards of the Shikkon no Tama, and bring me Sesshomaru, alive, for my use."_

_Hiro raised an eyebrow at his houseguests. "Umm... well, I wont ask what you want to use Sesshomaru for, but if that he's what you want, I can have him captured alive. You just got to do this one little thing for me first, and I swear I'll have Sesshomaru captured, and the completed Shikkon no Tama at the ready."_

_-End of Flashback-_

"One of my sources determined that neither of the two women I told you about have the Crystal in their possession, however one of them -I believe it's the fighter- has it under her control." Hiro brushed his bangs out of his eyes, and thought for a moment. "The Crystal is a very valuable possession, so that would mean that the girls will try to protect it the best they can. So, what I'd love for you to do is use your own cunning to find out who's carrying the Crystal."

"I see," Naraku happily thought about what he could do to the group, and how he could trick them to find this information. "So they entrusted the Crystal to someone in their group, did they? I assume it one of their more powerful companions."

"I don't care what you do, just make sure they are all alive when you're done with them. I'll even give you command over the Beldoules, and let you awaken them whenever you want. It will take their prey at least twenty-four hours to die then the Beldoule become Felmorte. When they change, they'll become a lot stronger than their previous state, so I dunno... time when you'll awaken them or something..."

Naraku nodded his head, and a sinister smile adorned his lips. "Take me to my incarnations."

"Okay then," Hiro chanted the spell in his head, and a little purple-rimmed, black circle appear before him. He pulled it larger by pulling apart the rim, and after Naraku stepped through it he closed it.

"Finally..." a crisp feminine voice spoke.

Hiro looked up to the beautiful, pink woman stepping out of the shadows with a childish pout. "I hate demons."

"So I've heard."

* * *

Saria was getting bored of seeing the same scene as they were walking. She doesn't care much for trees, which were bordering the pathway they were following. She can see trees any time, what she really wanted was to see all of Feudal Japan, not just the trees.

"This is boring, mama..." she sighed while swaying in rhythm with Ah-Un's walking. "Can I go look around with Ukiki and Rin?"

"You want to go ahead of everyone?" Rin asked somewhat worriedly. She wanted Saria to stay with her father so that her bad dreams would go away.

"Yeah, we can fly around on Ukiki," Saria replied with a giant grin on her face.

Rin forgot about her ideas of Sesshomaru releasing Saria of her nightmares, and looked hopefully to Lavender. Flying with Saria sounded like fun.

"I don't want you to leave though..." Lavender said over her shoulder. "I want you to stay with the group, kay?"

"Aww..." Saria cast her eyes down to the ground. She did not want to go against her mother's orders. Although, a father has the same authority as her mother, so... "Papa, can I go ahead of the group with Ukiki and Rin?"

"What!" Lavender abruptly turned around to face Sesshomaru and her daughter. "I already said no! You can't just ask your dad, that's not fair! Besides," Lavender crossed her arms, "Sesshomaru will just say no."

"Papa?"

"Do as you wish," Sesshomaru continued walking past the motionless and stunned Lavender, and the group moved on.

"Thanks, papa!" Saria turned to Rin, and started talking animatedly to her. "Okay, so you can fly on Uki, and I'll fly on Kiki. You don't have to worry about a thing, all you gotta do is sit on Uki, and I'll do all the controlling."

A silver platform appeared in front of both Saria and Rin, and they both slide from Ah-Un's back onto Uki, and Kiki.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama," Rin waved happily to her Lord as she flew past him.

"Thanks papa," Saria flew close enough to Sesshomaru to give him a quick little kiss on the cheek, and flew next to Rin. Sesshomaru hid his surprise well, and Inuyasha freely made a 'bleck' sound.

"Arrgh!" Lavender stormed back to her spot next to Lily, and in front of Sesshomaru. "You're such a jackass!"

Everyone except for Inuyasha, and of course Sesshomaru, chuckled at her petty frustration.

"Bastard..." Inuyasha said, sticking up for Lavender. Seconds later a rock collided with his head, resulting in a small bump.

"Sesshomaru..." Inu no Taishou muttered as a warning.

"You can't speak to Sesshomaru-sama that way!" Jaken hollered at Inuyasha, while waving his staff around as if he was a threat to the half-demon. Inuyasha picked up the rock Sesshomaru threw at him, and was about to throw it when Kagome interfered.

"Sit boy," Inuyasha's face dug into the earth, and he muttered a few curses in annoyance. Lavender yelped and ran to help him up. "We came this far without any fights, and it's gonna stay like that, got it?" Kagome gave a little chuckle, luckily unnoticed by Inuyasha, and skipped ahead.

"Inuyasha," Miroku decided to give some words of wisdom as Inuyasha grumpily started walking beside Kagome again. "I would stray as far away from arguments as you can, because we all decided that we wanted a peaceful journey with Sesshomaru-sama and your father."

"In other words," Sango continued for Miroku. "You might want to just keep from saying too much." Inuyasha's ear and eye twitched, and he turned around quickly to hit Miroku's head.

"Hey! What did I do?" Miroku started rubbing his head with an adorably angry expression on his face. Sango inspected the little bump with a little smile.

"Inuyasha! Don't make me say it again!" Kagome warned angrily.

"I'm not _making _you say it, you just get some sick pleasure seeing me hit the ground like that!"

"SIT! SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT!"

* * *

"Wow!" Rin 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed as she flew with Saria on Uki. They soared ahead of the group, and followed the path at high speeds, high in the sky. She never felt so free when she flew on Ah-Un. With Uki, it felt as though she was flying on her own. There was a fork in the path, and the two stopped. "Which way should we go first, Saria?"

"Um..." Saria looked at the two pathways she was floating far above. One direction, that led a little farther south, was almost completely covered by large towering trees. The other was leading more north, but the pathway had next to no trees bordering it. "This way looks more fun!" Saria had Uki and Kiki take them to the ground to hover above the southerly path, and they started flying at high speeds, dodging all the trees and branches in their way like a game.

Rin giggled with excitement, she did not think that flying so fast through obstacles would be so much fun. They were flying for about two minutes before Saria declared that she was bored.

"They're the same trees..." she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. "I wanna see something... else..." Saria's ears twitched and swivelled, indicating that she heard something interesting.

"What is it? Something wrong?" Rin all of a sudden thought that maybe something was after them, and wished she was with her lord, Sesshomaru, instead of the now-scary forest.

"It's water. That's not the same as trees, lets go look!" Saria excitedly guided Uki and Kiki towards the water. Rin relaxed, knowing it was not a scary monster or bandits.

They came across a beautiful hot spring hidden behind a dense wall of trees. It was a large one with numerous rocks jutting out from the edge of the water acting as walls, and the water was crystal clear.

"Let's go in!" Rin started to let herself slide off Uki to go in for a swim, but Saria had a different idea.

"Lets go tell my mum first," Saria started flying away, back to the group, bringing Uki with her. Uki's sudden movement jerked Rin back on top of it.

* * *

Every so often Lavender would turn around and glare at Sesshomaru through narrowed eyes. When Saria's aura started to come closer, she gave Sesshomaru an extra evil glare, and pretended not to hear Saria when she spoke in English, so no one else would understand them. Even when Saria was floating directly in front of her mother, with Rin beside her, she still pretended to not notice her.

"_Mama, guess what?"_

Lavender continued to ignore her little daughter, and Lily gave her attention instead.

"_What?"_

"_That's not guessing, that's asking another question..."_

Lily sighed, _"Umm... chicken butt?"_

"_Noo!"_ Saria huffed, and blurted out what she wanted to say. "_I wanted to tell mama that there's a really pretty hot spring up ahead, and I wanted to go in it with you guys, because I knew you two would like it..."_

"_Hot spring, eh?"_ Lily scratched her chin, and looked to her twin. Lavender's eyes were a little starry at the thought of going in a spring, and the memory of Sesshomaru in the spring.

"_We are so going..." _she said.

"_We should invite Kagome and Sango with us, I'm sure they'd like that... unless you wanted it to be just the three of us, Saria,"_ Lily thought out loud. A nice hot bath would be perfect for her at the moment. Actually, Lily liked a nice hot bath at any moment of the day.

"_No, I just wanted to tell you guys first because I didn't want to get anybody excited over it if it ends up being in the wrong direction, because there's a fork in the road and I don't know which way we're supposed to go."_

"_We're going no matter what, just so you know..."_ Lavender said to Lily, who was thinking the same thing.

"_Give Kagome a note then. I have a feeling that some of the people here might not want to go, so we might have to hide it..."_ Lily said, and pulled out a scrap paper from the back of the Diary that was empty, along with a mini blue pen, then handed them to Saria. "_Write it in Japanese, and tell Kagome about the spring."_

As they had their conversation in the foreign language, the rest of the group kept glancing back. Inuyasha's ears kept twitching, wanting to understand what they were talking about. Miroku kept glancing back, hoping he could read their body language to get an idea of what they were saying, but gave up and just simply looked at them. Kagome was trying to catch any words she might have heard of before, or might know, but was unsuccessful, and Sango tried to be polite and not look or let herself become agitated by their 'secret' conversation, but could not help but look at them from the corner of her eye.

Sesshomaru had his eyes narrowed at Lavender. He did not like it when they spoke in their language, because, just like many other times, he felt as though they were probably talking about him. Inu no Taisho was unfazed by their chatting, and looked on at the other's agitated, or curious faces with amusement.

Saria completed the little note, and handed it off to Kagome, with the pen.

She read it (while at the same time 'sitting' Inuyasha every time he tried to read over her shoulder), and a little smile adorned Kagome's lips. She quickly wrote a reply, and handed it to Saria.

In English, Saria read the letter to her mother and aunt. _"She wrote, 'Sango and I would love to have a relaxing soak in the hot spring, but Inuyasha will definitely not allow it... is there some way that you guys can convince him to say it's okay?' "_

Inuyasha's ears twitched at the sound of his name, and Sango raised an eyebrow at Kagome. Kagome winked at her friend, and Sango smiled back. Something interesting was going to happen.

Kagome, as she was walking, was looking over her shoulder trying to see a reply. Lavender and Lily gave her a mischievous grin, and nodded their heads. Kagome smiled, and turn to face the path ahead of her. She'll just wait for Lavender and Lily to give her some kind of signal, and bring Sango with her.

It took another ten minutes for them to reach the fork in the road, and Inuyasha turned around to see the twins.

"So, which way are we supposed to go?"

"Well, this is kind of confusing..." Lily scratched her chin in well-feigned concentration. "I can sense two different powers coming from both directions..."

"Which way should we go, Lil?" Lavender asked.

"I think we should go both ways by splitting up," Lily said in a matter-of-fact sort of way, then Lavender continued for her.

"How 'bout, to make it easy, we just have the girls go one way and the boys go the other way?"

"That's a good idea Lave, that way the ladies can have a little girl talk, and the men can do a little man to man bonding!"

"Perfect!" the twins clapped their hands together happily as if they had just solved a huge puzzle, and did some great deed as a result. "We can go this way-" Lavender pointed northward.

Saria let out a little warning cough, and Lavender took heed of the slight warning. "Or, maybe that way," she moved her hand to point to the other direction.

"Hey, why do we have to split up _that_ way?" Inuyasha started to complain. He did not mind Miroku of course, but it would just be plain awkward with Sesshomaru and his father there. "And how are we supposed to meet up again? And what if something happens to any of you and we don't know abou- hey!" Lily and Lavender were already nearly out of sight, jogging slightly with Kagome and Sango linked to their arms, and Saria was behind them half-dragging an excited Rin behind her with Kirara on her shoulder.

"HEY!" Inuyasha called out in vain. Miroku watched them disappear into the trees, and sighed. He rather enjoyed female company.

Sesshomaru gave an irritated 'huff', and turned towards his path. "She is planning something, the mischievous wench," he stated to his father who followed beside him.

"COME BACK HERE!" Inuyasha was still calling out to Kagome, Sango, and the twins, to Sesshomaru's annoyance.

"Silence yourself, hanyou."

"...Sesshomaru..." Inu no Taisho softly uttered his son's name as a warning, and Inuyasha was about to open his mouth to vehemently retaliate when he interfered. "Inuyasha, tell me about this Naraku foe. I've heard his name a few times, but I do not know what he is capable of."

Inuyasha instantly forgot about talking back to his older brother, and he began the story of Naraku, with Miroku's help. He told his father about the evil things he had done to the members of his group, but said very little about the incident with him and Kikyo. For some reason, he felt as though he did no want to share something so deep to Inu no Taisho, he felt as though it should wait.

* * *

"You think we're far enough away?" Kagome asked as she turned to look for the boys over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Lavender transformed her body in a flash of black and blue flames, and fur sprouted all over her body. She grew a tiger's tail, and with her mana she created a comfortably short white kimono to wear.

"Let's hurry, I want plenty of soak time," Lily's body was engulfed by green and white flames, as her fur and tail sprouted from her body. She donned the same short kimono, but orange.

"What's going on?" Sango looked to the fully transformed twins and to Kagome with a confused look.

"Hop on Kirara, kay?" Lavender started to stretch her legs, preparing for a nice run. "You'll see when we get there."

Sango, Kagome, and Rin hopped on the great fire cat's back, and the twins started sprinting down the path. Saria, while standing on her little platform like a skateboard, lead the way.

It took two minutes to get to the spring, and Kagome and Lavender squealed with joy.

"I _love_ hot springs!" Lavender said as she quickly transformed back to normal and stripped off her clothes. She hopped into the spring, making a splash, and sat against a rock while sighing contently.

"Me too," Kagome took off her clothes and gingerly stepped in. She relaxed her back against the edge of the water, and sighed as well. "Inuyasha hates it when we stop, even if it's just for a few minutes."

"That's what I figured," Lily said as she too stepped into the spring. "Inuyasha seems very anxious to get things done."

Sango followed behind Lily, and Saria with Rin hurried in after. Kirara curled up on a rock next to Sango's head. "Inuyasha is such a quick traveller that it's tiring when we try to keep up with him."

Lavender frowned. "He can't be that bad..."

"We always get into huge fights when we ask to take a rest," Kagome sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll lighten him up a little." Lavender raised her fist in the air like she already accomplished her goal. "He just needs to learn how to relax, nothing a few beers can't fix!"

"No! You're not getting him drunk!" Lily wagged her finger at her sister. Kagome starred at Lavender, thinking about how Inuyasha might act if he was drunk. Sango was still trying to figure out what a 'beer' was.

"It wont get him drunk, he's part demon so it'll probably take more beers than 'a few'," Lavender stated. "He'll get a buzz, which is enough to relax someone."

"Whatever..."

"Or, we could introduce him to Terry..." Lavender thought out loud. Lily buried her face in her hand. Terry was not exactly the best person in the world.

"Who's Terry?" Sango asked. It was annoying when she's in a conversation that makes no sense to her.

"Terry? He's my bestest friend in the whole entire universe!" Lavender giggled like a little schoolgirl. "We've known each other for sixteen years! We met at school when we were in grade three... how old is that? Eight? Yeah, that's right. He's the coolest person in the world, cause when my foster parents kicked me out of the house for being pregnant, he convinced his parents to let me live with them!"

As Lavender continued to talk, and talk, and talk, Lily elaborated for Sango and Kagome. "Mom and dad didn't like her all that much to begin with. She was too much of a trouble-maker, so when they found out she was pregnant, they decided it was about time to kick her out,"

Lavender could still be heard in the background, "...we met when his basketball team was a player short, and I said I'd fill in..."

"Anyways, he's a bigger trouble-maker than Lave," Lily shook her head, thinking of all the things he did. "He stole someone's car (a nice one too), he deals drugs for quick cash, he steals guns and materials from warehouses,"

"...he helped me with my exam once..."

"He's a cheater,"

"...he helps me get out of big messes..."

"He gets into gang fights, despite the fact that he's not part of a gang, and Lavender is usually the one who protects him,"

"...throws _awesome_ parties..."

"He gets everyone either high or drunk at parties and sees what he can convince them to do. For example, taking a crap on a police officer's car,"

"...and he, oh man, that was freakin' hilarious!" Lavender started laughing out loud and clutched her sides. She managed to hear the last comment Lily made. "I can't believe that guy actually took a shit on the cruiser! He got in so much trouble..." Lavender could not continue as she was thrown into a fit of silent laughter.

"Well, those are the good and bad of Terry."

"He sounds... nice," was all Sango could think of to describe Terry without being rude.

"He is," Saria was listening to the conversation and decided to shine a brighter light on her mother's best friend. "He took care of mama and me, and he's extremely loyal, like, beyond loyal, to his friends. And when mama was in high school he pretended to be my dad so that people wouldn't label my mom as a slut."

"People would really think that?" Kagome gave Lavender, who was just recovering from her laughter, a sympathetic look.

"Yeah," Lavender was not phased by the memories of people hollering names at her down the hall; high school was over. "A lot of people had beef with me in school, I was too good and they were jealous."

Kagome gave a weak grin; _she's pretty conceited..._

Rin and Saria swam around the rocks, exploring the large hot spring, while the adults talked about nonsense that didn't concern them. They did not care about the boys in their little _entourage_. Exploration was much more interesting.

They swam around the large rock that was jutting from the water's edge to see the other side. It looked like a completely new area. There was less vegetation growing on the edge of the water, and the rock cast a large shadow, which gave the area a dead and alone feeling.

Saria felt a shiver crawl down her spine. She looked around, thinking that someone was nearby, but no one was to be found. She gave an involuntary shudder, and Rin tugged her arm towards the farther end of the spring.

"Look! I see flowers over there!" Rin continued to pull Saria away from the adults, and they reached the edge of the spring. Sure enough, there were brightly colour flowers growing a few yards away.

Rin was climbing out of the water, wanting pick some flowers, when Saria noticed a slight movement in the corner of her eye. She saw what looked like the end of a large snake, or a tentacle, behind a tree. The sun wasn't able to reach the area very well because the canopy of trees blocked its entrance, however Saria could still make out the contour of a man, where the tentacle was moving.

"Get back," Saria said quietly as she pulled Rin's arm, and she splashed back into the water.

Rin was about to protest, but she was frightened by the serious and scared expression on her friend's face. Saria shuddered again, and pulled Rin back to her mother.

When she reached her mother, she let go of Rin, and huddle next to Lavender. "Something's out there, and it's scaring me..."

"Wha...?" Lavender gave her daughter a strange and worried look. Saria's never afraid of anything; except for diseases and germs, so whatever is out there must be something everyone should fear.

* * *

Inuyasha and Miroku were in the lead with Sesshomaru and Inu no Taisho behind them. Shippo was sitting on Inuyasha's shoulder, sulking because Kagome left him alone with the hanyou. Jaken was happily following behind Sesshomaru because Rin was nowhere to be seen or heard.

Sesshomaru was very angry at the moment. The second they reached the fork in the road, and the twins decided they should spilt up, he knew they were planning something. He could tell Lily was lying. There is only one power, not two. He could also sense Lavender's familiar aura travelling very fast away from them, which means that they are not walking. However, he could not sense any danger, so he knew that they were not running from something. Trust Lavender to stick to her deceitful ways and lie to him. Again.

Inu no Taisho knew something was up with the girls, but it did not bother him. He instead found it amusing. It was even more amusing because he could tell, by Sesshomaru's tense shoulders, slightly furrowed brow, and clutched fists, that his son was getting angry for such a trivial reason.

"I miss Kagome," Shippo whined after their conversation of Naraku came to an end, and they no longer had anything to talk about.

"Shut up," Inuyasha countered without missing a beat.

"Don't tell me to 'shut up'!"

"Then stop being a whiney little brat."

"I am not a 'whiney little brat'!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are no- HEY"

Inuyasha had punched Shippo off his shoulder, who flew and bumped into Inu no Taisho. Inuyasha's father caught Shippo to keep him from falling to the ground.

"Inuyasha," Inu no Taisho did not use the same warning tone he always used for his elder son. Sesshomaru noticed the lack of warning, and became even angrier. "Do you really think that was necessary?"

"Yes," Inuyasha said, plain and simple. He looked back and saw his father's brow raised, waiting for him to continue. "If I didn't do anything then, he'd just never shut up."

"You're such a jerk Inuyasha!" Shippo hollered from Inu no Taisho's arms. "When we meet back up with Kagome, I'm telling her what you did!"

"No you wont," Inuyasha stopped and looked Shippo in the eye, who scurried away and perch on Inu no Taisho's shoulder.

"What makes you say that?" he stuttered. Inuyasha had an evil gleam in his eye, and Shippo didn't like it.

"Oh trust me, you wont be _able _to when I'm through with you," Inuyasha took a clawed finger and poked Shippo in the gut, then mimicked Naraku's chuckle.

Inu no Taisho made a 'humph' sound, and Sesshomaru, annoyed that Inuyasha slowed down their travels, abruptly shoved Inuyasha to the side.

"Sesshomaru, what was that for?" Inu no Taisho gave his son a hard and warning look. Sesshomaru noticed the warning, and his anger elevated even further. It annoyed him to no end knowing that his father already favours Inuyasha, the son he never even knew. He let out a growl, and quickly started walking ahead of them with Jaken and Ah-Un following closely behind.

"Sesshomaru, you bastard!" Inuyasha waved his fist at his brother and placed his hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga. "You wanna fight!"

Sesshomaru, no matter how much he would love to fight, ignored his brother and continued walking ahead.

Inuyasha huffed and started walking as well. Miroku instead started walking beside Inu no Taisho, and behind the irritated half-demon.

They continued walking in silence. Sesshomaru slowed down a little and was walking at the same pace as the others, but just farther ahead. He could sense a hanyou further up in the distance, and became irritated at the thought of other hanyous. They reminded him of his very own half-demon brother, who was causing him grief at the moment.

Miroku then started thinking about the girls. "I wonder what the girls are doing now..."

"Pervert," Inuyasha stated with annoyance in his voice.

"Why Inuyasha, I was only wondering. Why are you so angry about it?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. "Miroku, you're a pervert. I'm sure you're thinking about something perverted concerning the girls."

Shippo nodded in agreement, and Miroku sighed in defeat. He would probably never gain full respect from his friends. He really was just wondering about what the girls were up to, but because Inuyasha made that comment, he began to have impure thoughts.

They continued walking in silence, Inu no Taisho, Miroku, and Shippo stayed quiet, afraid of the tension between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. At least a minute passed by when Sesshomaru stopped dead in his tracks, and starred in the southerly direction.

Inuyasha noticed his sudden stop, and followed his gaze. Then it hit Inuyasha. It was the disgusting scent of his most powerful enemy, Naraku.

Sesshomaru's body instantly transformed into an orb, and he flew in the direction of Naraku. He planned to destroy him once and for all, but at the same time be sure that Rin and his daughter are unharmed.

Inuyasha followed behind Sesshomaru by quickly running through the forest, which slowly grew thicker.

Jaken began to climb on Ah-Un's back to follow his Lord, while mumbling about how Sesshomaru always left him behind with no explanation. Miroku quickly hoisted himself on the dragon, and to get moving faster and grabbed Jaken by the collar and they flew towards the sinister hanyou.

Inu no Taisho also followed beside Inuyasha, on foot, with Shippo clinging to his furry, white boa. He would finally meet this feared Naraku.

* * *

"What did you see, Saria?" Lily asked her little niece, and Sango peered around the rock. Kagome swam to Rin to keep her safe.

"A man behind a tree," Saria said, and she gave another little shiver.

"A man behind a tree, huh?" Kagome said sceptically. "It's probably Miroku or Inuyasha..."

"No, we would sense them," Lavender stated. She patted her darling daughter's head, and transformed. Her fur felt heavy with water as she stood up to let Saria out of the spring, while starring in the direction Saria came from.

Lily hoisted herself out too, but transformed after getting out of the water so her fur wouldn't get soaked. She materialized four fluffy white towels into her hands with her magic, and gave one to Lavender who wrapped Saria up in it tightly. Kirara transformed and stood protectively in front of Lily and Saria, waiting for Sango and Kagome to come out.

Kagome helped Rin get out of the water first, and Lily wrapped her in a towel like Saria. Sango was standing defensively behind the rock with her Hiraikotsu at the ready.

"C'mon Sango," Kagome tugged on Sango's arm to pull her away. "We'll be better off out of the spring."

"Yes, you're right."

They had just begun to walk away when the waters became disturbed. There were little waves creeping out from behind the rock, no doubt coming from whoever was watching them. Then very suddenly, as Sango and Kagome hurried to the waters edge, something wrapped itself around both of the girls' ankles, and they were dragged underwater.

"No!" Lavender thrust Saria to her twin, and she knelt at the water's edge, and placed her clawed hands in the water. The water instantly began to twirl, like a whirlpool, but the water was pushed aside to leave a clearing in the centre of the spring. Kagome and Sango were being held to the bottom by green, slimy looking tentacles, and the Hiraikotsu was accidentally pushed aside by the whirlpool.

The owner of the tentacles walked through the water to the little clearing Lavender made with her powers, and snatched up the two girls off the ground. He held them tightly, Kagome on one side, and Sango on the other.

The man rose into the air, and hovered above the water. Lavender had released her grip on the liquid, and it had become calm.

"And who might you be?" Lavender asked in a very irritated voice. She was trying to find his aura, everyone had some kind of aura, but this man didn't. Saria was whimpering as Lily held her close to her, and Rin was hiding behind Lily's leg, tightly clutching to her striped fur.

The man did not respond, instead he just chuckled and bore his eyes into Saria's. She could not force herself to look away. His red eyes pierced her soul, as if she met this man before. Then, so suddenly that the twins were taken aback and Kirara began to hiss, the strong aura of a very powerful half-demon hit all of their senses.

"He-he's Naraku!" Kagome managed to say through gasps of breath. He was holding her so tightly that it was difficult for her to breathe.

"Let go of me now, Naraku, or you will regret it!" Sango said fiercely. She was having a better time fighting against Naraku's hold.

"Inuyasha will be here in any minute! Let us go _right now_!"

"I will, soon," he drawled. Naraku licked his lips, and pressed them tightly to Kagome's mouth. She tried to pull away, but Naraku just leaned in further, and pulled her closer, crushing her with his weight.

The others were too shocked to react right away. First, Kirara pounced towards Naraku, then Lavender formed a dagger from ice by using her special abilities, and followed the great cat demon. He dropped Kagome into the water, and jumped to the top of the rock. He then kissed a thrashing Sango, however a large white orb heading directly for him interrupted him.

Naraku dodged and missed Sesshomaru's attack within a fraction of a second. He dropped Sango to the ground when he landed, and released a thick, dark miasma. Lily noticed, just barely, a dark, purple-rimed circle engulf him. Naraku laughed maliciously, his voice echoing in the dark abyss he entered.

Lavender acted quickly. She heaved Kagome out of the water, and handed her and Sango towels. Then she ushered Lily away from the miasma with Rin and Saria, along with Kagome and Sango. Sesshomaru followed directly behind Lavender as she took control. Aside from the twins, the humans all began to cough because of the miasma in their lungs. Kirara was leading the way out of the miasma by the flame on her tail as a torch in the dark fog.

"Way to zone out in a dangerous situation, Lil," Lavender said teasingly.

"Sorry, but I saw something interesting..." Lavender ushered her twin to continue, but Lily just shook her head. "Lets help the girls recover."

Lily was securing the towel around Sango, who seemed very annoyed at the moment and wouldn't sit still, when Inuyasha and the others finally entered the scene.

"What happened? Where's Naraku?" Inuyasha demanded as soon as he landed.

"It seems as though he got away again," Miroku said, after noticing the miasma far behind the trees.

Inuyasha then just realized the state everyone was in. They were wearing nothing but towels around their bodies, except for the twins who still had not bothered to transform back to normal, and were still not wearing any clothes. Their majestic stripes could be seen in full across Lily's slim body, and Lavender's muscular body.

"Kagome, what happened?" Inuyasha quickly rushed to her side, and put his hands on her shoulders. She was still coughing slightly because of the poison she inhaled.

Kagome threw herself against Inuyasha, and hid her face in his chest. Inuyasha's cheeks turned to a slight shade of red. "Oh Inuyasha... it was so scary... He grabbed me, and I was afraid of what he was going to do!"

Inuyasha patted Kagome's back, angry with Naraku for whatever harm he caused Kagome.

"What did he do?" Inuyasha was afraid to ask. So many thoughts were running through his mind. If no one was there to help her, Naraku could have killed her in so many ways.

"He KISSED me!" Kagome dug her face into Inuyasha's chest as far as it could. She wanted to hide herself because she just felt so disgusted and embarrassed.

"WHAT!" Inuyasha pulled Kagome away from him and grasped her shoulders. "HE _KISSED_ YOU!"

"Yeah, and it was a pretty big one..." Lavender said. "He kissed Sango too."

Miroku, who was trying to see if Sango was all right, instantly felt the need to hit something. Very hard.

"That BASTARD!" Inuyasha felt so angry that he was gripping Kagome's shoulders too tightly.

"Inuyasha, let go!"

Inuyasha and Kagome gave each other glares for a few moments when Shippo spoke up.

"Why would Naraku _kiss_ them?" he asked Lily.

"I have absolutely, positively, no clue," she replied.

"You don't think he'd try and get their DNA for some crazy experiment, do you?" Lavender asked with a genuinely creped out look on her face.

"I don't think they've even _discovered _it yet."

"Well, maybe he is going to use our DNA for something like, a possession or something?" Kagome offered her own idea. It happened before that the Dark Priestess used her blood to try and make her kill Inuyasha. Maybe Naraku is using saliva instead.

"But that's so pointless," Lavender said sceptically. "If he wants to use your DNA for something, blood is the best way to go."

"I'd say they're about equal," Lily countered. "Saliva washes away a lot easier than blood, but that's probably the only difference. They're still bodily fluids, which means they're both gonna contain the same DNA."

"I guess..."

The other members of their group, not from the modern era, were confused about the talk of 'DNA', and the fact that Naraku might possibly be gaining this so-called 'DNA' through a kiss.

"That still doesn't explain why he _kissed_ them..." Inuyasha stated. He was not sure if he should feel better knowing that Naraku did not kiss Kagome out of lust, or if he should be angry because he used her for something unrelated.

"Yeah... if I were someone like Naraku, I'd just take a finger or something to use as DNA," Lavender replied thoughtfully. "Actually, if I was someone like Naraku I'd just kill my opponents as soon as I see them, instead of dicking around. Y'know? Makes life easier for everyone..."

"Well... we'll find out what's going on soon enough," Sango said knowingly. "And where are our clothes?" Sango absentmindedly swatted Miroku's hand away from her behind.

"They're back at the spring," Lily said as she patted Rin's back, who still had a little poison in her lungs and was coughing. "But you can't go back there because of the poison."

"Oh..."

"Hey, Sesshomaru..." Lavender approached Sesshomaru seductively. She walked to him with her hands held behind her back, and her shoulders thrown back so that Sesshomaru would have a nice clear view of her fur-covered, naked chest. "Could you please get our clothes from the spring... pretty-please?"

Sesshomaru gave her an icy glare, and walked away from her without a word.

Lavender starred after him dumbly. Why was he so angry? Not once since they started their little journey did he give her such a cold glare. Why start now?

"Mama," Saria, who recovered from being so frightened by Naraku, finally spoke up. "I can go get our clothes."

"Okay, baby..." Lavender smiled at her daughter.

Sesshomaru turned around and watched Saria walk towards the miasma. Lavender was not worried for her daughter's safety, so Saria must have an immunity to poison, like himself. But Sesshomaru did not like the idea of his daughter entering any of Naraku's poison. She may be his daughter, with his blood, but she is still a half-demon, which means her powers would be weaker than his (especially without the proper training).

"Stay. You will wait for the poison to dissipate," Sesshomaru looked at Saria, expecting her to obey him. However, he did not know about how much of her mother's genes she inherited. Saria does not tolerate people believing she is any more or less than what she is.

"I can handle a little poison, papa," Saria stated, and continued walking towards the spring. Lavender put her hand to her lips to hide her smirk.

"You will stay here," Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. He felt his anger spiking again. He did not even remember why he was so angry in the first place.

"I'm a lot stronger than you think, I can handle all kinds of poison! I bet there is not _one_" Saria held up a finger to emphasise 'one', "substance on this earth that I cannot handle."

Saria then continued her trek back to the spring, and Lavender let out a small chuckle. Sesshomaru then remembered why he was so angry. It was Lavender's fault. It always was, and always will be her fault for everything that went wrong in his life since he met her. The fact that his daughter is walking away from his orders is but one example of many.

"I will _not_ repeat myself," Sesshomaru's voice was low, and it sounded similar to a growl.

"Then _don't_," Saria said with attitude.

Lavender gasped. Giving Sesshomaru such a bad attitude was unmentionable. She commenced yelling at her daughter for disrespecting her father, but in English to let Saria keep some dignity.

"_You can't talk to him like that! I may let you back-sass me, but Sesshomaru is a little different if you haven't noticed!"_ Lavender's solid blue gaze bore into Saria's angry golden eyes.

"_I hate it when people are like that! They don't think I can take care of myself because they think I'm just a little kid!" _Saria yelled back.

"_Well, yeah, because in human standards, YOU ARE A LITTLE KID!"_

"_That's not fair! I can't be myself just because the stupid humans will be afraid of me, but why can't I be myself here, huh? All the humans here are already scared shitless!" _Saria turned her back on her mother.

"_Watch your language!"_

Lily cringed. Lavender did not like it when Saria swore. It was her fault, she cursed too often, so it's only natural for Saria to pick up the bad habits too. But, usually, Saria can hold her tongue.

"_But it's true! At home everyone thinks I'm just a useless child, and here my own dad thinks I'm useless!"_

Lavender sighed. It was never any use yelling at Saria. She doesn't even know why she bothers with it. _"Your father doesn't know how to be a father, okay?"_

"_What?" _Saria raised an eyebrow at her mother.

"_Imagine having a kid you don't know anything about show up at your doorstep. Can you honestly expect him to know how to handle you? He also thinks that no one can compare to his power, so I don't think he'll be able to grasp the fact that you're a strong girl for a long time now. And, I don't think you realize how small you really are."_ Lavender chuckled as Saria ran and compared her size to Rin. Saria's little dog-ears reached Rin's shoulders just barely. _"What I think is that your father believes you're exactly how you look, a small little girl who needs her mama and papa to protect her."_

"_Humph..."_ Saria narrowed her eyes and gave her mother a cute little pout.

"_Not just that Saria, but your father comes from a different time, where the daughter of a Lord obeys her father and doesn't turn her back on him."_

Saria's eyes widened. She had not bothered to think about how different the times are. _"Oh... I guess I really insulted him, huh?"_

Lavender nodded her head and smiled. She enjoyed making people figure out their mistakes on their own. The look on their face is always priceless when realization dawns on them.

"Er... sorry papa, I'll stay here..." Saria scratched the back of her head and smiled meekly at her father. Sesshomaru was glaring icily at Lavender. He heard his name at the beginning of the conversation, and it irked him to know that his daughter and the mother of his daughter were having a secret conversation about him, directly in front of him. Saria felt a little better seeing that his anger was directed at her mother instead of her.

"Doesn't matter anymore... the Captain got our clothes for us while you two were busy arguing," Lily was adjusting the pink headband in her hair. She had transformed back to normal, and she was wearing her proper clothes. Kagome and Rin were already changed, and Sango was emerging from behind the large trees and bushes they changed behind.

"Thanks for the heads up," Lavender said to her sister sarcastically. She quickly rushed to get her clothes, and hid behind the trees. She really did not like that look Sesshomaru gave her.

"No prob..." Lily replied absentmindedly as she brushed Rin's hair and tied the little lopsided ponytail in it.

Saria went to her things, and had Ukiki create a silver box around her so she wouldn't have to hide behind the trees. When she was done changing, Ukiki transformed back into the two silver orbs, and hid inside her. Lavender was still not done.

"Hey," Inuyasha looked to Kagome, who was re-braiding Saria's two locks of hair because Lily was busy with Rin.

"Yeah?"

"What were you girls doing in a spring, huh?"

"Uh, well..." Kagome looked uncomfortable, and started to pretend to be hard at work on Saria's hair.

"Yes, I am also curious as to how you all came to be in a spring when we were trying to reach our destination," Miroku asked accusingly to Sango, who started brushing the knots out of Kirara's fur to keep her busy and not looks so guilty and uncomfortable.

"Yes, I think I'd like to know as well," Inu no Taisho gave Lily a knowing and playful look. He wasn't serious like Inuyasha and Miroku; he just thought their predicament was amusing.

* * *

Lavender walked away from the group. She knew something was wrong with Sesshomaru, and she knew that if she were alone, he would come and find her. And sure enough, as soon as she felt as though she was far enough away from their little camp that no one would eavesdrop, she stopped to lean against a tree and Sesshomaru appeared before her.

"Hey..." Lavender looked up at him with a guilty smile, and she waved at him weakly.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at her, and turned to sit down cross-legged.

"What's bothering you?" Lavender asked, rooted to her spot. She felt so vulnerable because she was in her normal, human form. Probably not smart when dealing with an angry killer, but she wanted to show him that she trusted him.

Sesshomaru, of course, did not answer.

Lavender sighed, and slumped towards Sesshomaru. "I think I know what you want..." she tugged Sesshomaru's boa off his shoulder, and coiled it up in a pile next to them. "I guess it's been a long time, eh?" she reached her arms around his waist, and untied his obi. "It's been a long time for me too, y'know..." she heaved his armour off his shoulders, and set it beside his boa. "I feel guilty, Sesshomaru..." she slipped her hands under his haori, and began to rub his shoulders. "I just don't know why..."

Sesshomaru turned his head slightly to look at Lavender out of the corner of his eye. She tilted her head to the side so he could see her better. Her eyes were full of genuine guilt, but her expression was that of confusion.

"You," Sesshomaru spoke softly, letting the words sink in to Lavender. "Are a deceitful woman."

"I'm sorry," Lavender started to pull Sesshomaru's haori off his shoulders as well, but Sesshomaru took his hand and pulled it tighter to him. "There's more to it than just me. There's gotta be."

Sesshomaru avoided her gaze. Of course he was angry with plenty of other things, but they all originate from her.

Lavender sighed, and buried her face into the back of Sesshomaru's neck. "I'm really sorry Sesshomaru... I am... I couldn't stop thinking about you, and how badly I wanted to come see you, and talk to you again..." she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and traced little circles on his chest. "I was so scared, about what you might do or say... You are a very intimidating person, you know that right?"

Sesshomaru didn't reply. Of course he knew that.

"Will you ever forgive me? For that first time I lied to you?"

"You do not deserve forgiveness," Sesshomaru said bluntly.

Lavender felt tears well up in her eyes, and she turned away from Sesshomaru. She had heard once that time heals all wounds. Well, whoever said that was wrong, because as each year went by, Lavender had thought that she would forget about Sesshomaru and move on. Or, that Sesshomaru would forgive her over time, and that hasn't happened. That's what she really wanted, to be forgiven. She loved Sesshomaru, and still does. It hurt knowing that she had done something so terrible that he could still be angry about it after two hundred years.

Lavender hugged her knees against her body, with her back to Sesshomaru. He turned around, and sat directly behind her.

"However," Sesshomaru slid his arm around her waist, and rest his chin on her head. "I am positive you will find a way to change my mind."

Lavender leaned back completely, and shifted her head so that she could give Sesshomaru a soft kiss on his cheekbone. "You don't know how good this feels," she said as she snaked her arm back, around his neck.

She felt so complete, sitting where she was, so she was so comfortable that she began to dose off after a few minutes. Lavender was jerked fully awake when Sesshomaru shifted her to the ground. He stood up, and started walking away.

"Where're you goin'?" she asked slightly groggily.

"I need to bathe," he replied. "Take that with you," he pointed to his fluffy white boa, then he grabbed his armour, and continued walking away.

"Oh! I'm coming too!" Lavender quickly bolted to her feet, and followed him.

"No," he said sternly. "You will go back."

Lavender was about to complain, but considering what was going on between them, she felt as though she should probably comply. "Uh, okay then... sure..." She tried one, unsuccessful pout, and started walking in the opposite direction, towards the others. "Hey, Sesshomaru,"

He stopped to listen, starring ahead. Lavender scooped up the boa, and wrapped it around her neck.

"Don't be too long, and be careful... If you see anything suspicious, come tell Lil and me, kay?"

Sesshomaru continue walking without replying.

"I'm gonna take that as a 'okay'," Lavender smirked and turned to go back to the comp, but remembered one last thing. "Oh, and we'll have another talk, kay? About everything else that's bugging you!" Lavender waved, and disappeared as she walked through the think forest.

Sesshomaru instead went in the other direction, planning to find some water where he could wash away the human scent on his clothes. If felt good, sitting with Lavender. However, his mind tells him to stay as far away from her as possible. She was only a human after all. Sesshomaru would never take his feelings seriously, but that really was a nice sit after spending the whole day being angry.

**A/N: **Yaaaaaay. I was thinking about going longer, but I think that it's better if I just update. Daiya so sleepy. I'm happy I got this done: now I get to go to bed feeling as though I had accomplished something.

Anyways, next week I have work holidays. Therefore, I shall write a lot. And by a lot I'm hoping one chapter by the 9th. That is my goal. I say that if I achieve it, I deserve replies XD.

Until next time, buh-byes.


	8. The Secret Exposed

**A/N: **Hi. I have this ability where I don't accomplish goals... so... I guess I deserve no reviews... uu... (cries in corner). I'm only 5 days late... Anyways, excuse for today: writer's block, and I actually had a vacation... A road trip to my cousin's cottage. Didn't think I'd be doing anything that week...

Oh well, this one's longer than I expected, and I personally think it's the best one so far.

**Disclaimer: **If you look to the right, you'll see that I do not own Inuyasha. To your left, you'll see Rumiko Takahashi, the true owner of Inuyasha.

**Chapter 8: The Secret Exposed**

Lavender skipped through the forest, humming a non-existent tune softly, with Sesshomaru's fluffy boa billowing in the wind behind her. She eventually made it to their little camp, where there was a thick air of un-comfort surrounding them.

Lily, Saria, and Inu no Taisho were sitting at the base of a tree in the centre of the group, having a small conversation about why the sky is blue. Kagome, Rin, Kirara, and Sango were sitting to the left of them, being quiet and sharing guilty looks with each other. Miroku and Inuyasha were sitting to the right, also not speaking. Inuyasha was sending glares in Kagome's direction, and Miroku had his head down, sad that he missed out on all that bathing fun. Shippo felt betrayed by Kagome for not bringing him along, and was sulking on Miroku's shoulder. Jaken, simply upset that his lord had ditched him to go see Lavender, was sitting on Ah-Un's back by Rin.

"See, and that makes the water blue, too," Lily was saying to Inu no Taisho before she noticed Lavender. "Where've you been?"

"Just talking to Sesshomaru," she replied with a smug look on her face. It felt to her as if their problems were already dust in the wind, and she and Sesshomaru would be fondling again in no time like before.

"Well, where's Sesshomaru then?"

"Taking a bath," Lavender skipped towards her sister and daughter, and sat next to them. She wrapped Sesshomaru's boa around them, and they cuddled in its warmth.

"Why do you have this thing?"

"I dunno... he told me to take it with me..." she shrugged.

"I like it, it's really soft, and warm, and fluffy!" Saria began petting the boa and burying her face into it.

"I hate it," Inuyasha looked over with disgust. "It makes you smell like _Sesshomaru_."

Lavender frowned, and pressed her nose to the boa for a good whiff. "I think he smells good. It's like, an earthy, nature smell. Like trees, and grass, and water, and wind, and-"

"Half of the things you listed don't have a scent," Inuyasha pointed out.

Lavender stayed silent, and Lily and Inu no Taisho continued their conversation.

-----

Sesshomaru was sitting in the spring, looking as relaxed as his stoic demeanour could possibly allow. He was ever vigilant of his surroundings. He hated the springs, he always felt far too vulnerable.

He did not actually _need_ a bath, but Lavender's scent was all over him. He could not have demons, or even half-demons, to know that they were so close during that time they spent together. People would assume things, and believe that he was courting her, a human. His only reasoning for letting her touch him was that she certainly knew how to do it right.

Very suddenly, the wind picked up, and the force was whipping around the trees. Sesshomaru picked up the scent of Naraku, and putting it together with the wind he assumed Kagura had come to pay him a visit. He stayed where he was, seemingly ignoring her presence.

"Sesshomaru," Kagura greeted as she landed a few metres away from him.

Sesshomaru did not reply.

"I was hoping that you might be able to tell me what ever you know about a man named Hiro," she looked at him with determined eyes. She was really lost at the moment. As soon as Naraku had disappeared, a strange woman whose almost transparent body was giving off the faint glow of pink visited her, Kanna, Kohaku, and Hakudoushi. She told them that she was going to hide them until Naraku came back.

_-Flashback-_

"_Call me Jewel..." the woman gave a shrill laugh, and cocked her head to the side, looking at Hakudoushi. "Now aren't you a spoiled looking brat?"_

_Hakudoushi's already glaring eyes did not waver. He stared at Jewel, deep in thought._

"_Come now, children, you need to be somewhere no one will find you!" Jewel spread open her arms as if inviting the four into an embrace. "We want everyone to think you've disappeared!"_

"_Why should we?" Kagura asked, with hatred dripping from her words. She hated following orders._

"_Because... it's best for us all..." Jewel giggled childishly, and walked straight up to Hakudoushi. "You are the strongest of the three?"_

"_I am the strongest," he simply stated._

"_Riiiight, of course you are..." Jewel quickly reached out and pulled his chin forward as she kissed him swiftly. She pulled back and chuckled at the look on Hakudoushi's face. It was very slight and hardly noticeable, but his face held a look of astonishment._

_He had expected her to come after him because she was a suspicious person. Hakudoushi's plan was to take control of the darkness in her heart when she attacked, and see who she was. Hakudoushi had not expected her to kiss him, but he shrugged it aside. He searched for her heart, and what astonished him was that she did not have a heart._

_Kagura looked at the woman with disgust. _She must be planning something..._ she figured. It could be the only explanation. No one randomly kisses a child for no apparent reason._

"_You've got that right..."_

_Kagura started. Jewel winked at her, and started walking away. Kagura thought that Hakudoushi was the only one who could hear her thoughts, although apparently this Jewel woman could hear them too. Not a nice thing for Kagura._

_Jewel looked back and saw that no one was bothering to follow her. "Are you coming on your own, or do I have to use a little force?"_

_Kanna and Kohaku both stepped forward with blank looks on their faces, and walked to Jewel._

"_Well, at least two of you have the right idea..."_

"_I don't follow anyone," Hakudoushi simply said, and turned to walk in the opposite direction._

"_You'll regret that..." Jewel's voice was crisp and clear as a jet-black dome encased the four of them. No light was able to penetrate the dome, and they could only see each other because of the faint pink glow emanating from Jewel. In a split second, the pink glow vanished, and no one could see a thing._

"_Release me at once!" Hakudoushi let his power loose, intending to destroy the dome, but stopped as soon as he heard a man's voice._

"_Knock it off," a smooth voice echoed in the dome. "I don't want my precious Jewel hurt."_

"_Oh, Hiro, they're not being very good children..." Jewel complained._

"_Don't worry about that, I'll deal with them..."_

_A flash of white light illuminated the dome, and they were all momentarily blinded. Kagura heard a little thump beside her, and assumed it was Hakudoushi fallen to the ground. Moments after, Kagura felt as though someone was forcibly taking the air out of her lungs, and she fell to the ground, holding her chest. It was so sudden she could not even let out a little gasp as she fainted._

_

* * *

_

_Kagura woke up and saw that Hakudoushi was still unconscious. Kanna was sitting next to him, staring blankly at her, and Kohaku was sitting against a dark, stone wall._

"_Kanna, what happened?" Kagura asked her weakly._

"_She took us here to hide us."_

_Kagura looked around. They were taken to a cave. She walked to the mouth of the cave, and looked out to see that they were high on top of a mountain. She could not even see the land because the clouds were blocking her view._

"_Hakudoushi woke up, but the man said he was too dangerous to keep awake."_

"_I see..." Kagura tried to stick her hand out the cave entrance, but an invisible barrier kept her in._

"_Wanna leave?" a smooth voice said from the ceiling. "Go ahead. But only you can go."_

_Kagura tried to touch the barrier, but it disappeared. Instantly, she pulled a feather from her hair letting it transform into a larger form, similar to a boat, and jumped on it. She flew from the cave, and immediately decided to see the one person who might be able to help her, no matter how badly she did not wish to see him. Kagura's plan was to see Inuyasha, but when she saw Sesshomaru down in the springs, she changed her plans. _

_-End of Flashback-_

"So, Sesshomaru, do you know him?"

Sesshomaru continued to look ahead of him, making it seem as though he did not hear her. Kagura, feeling frustrated, was about to yell at him for being an arrogant jerk but stopped herself when he nodded his head.

"Who is he?"

"A sorcerer," he said simply.

"That's all?" Kagura had a feeling that she was wasting her time.

"What did Naraku want with the demon slayer and the priestess?" Sesshomaru looked at Kagura for the answer.

She gave him a confused look. "Nothing, except for Kagome's sacred jewel shards." Sesshomaru looked ahead of him with his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Why do you ask?"

"I suppose Naraku does not wish to share his plans with a traitor."

"What did Naraku do? None of us know, he disappeared a couple days ago, and we've heard nothing from him," Kagura felt herself getting angry. Sesshomaru could be a royal pain in the butt when it came to these kinds of situations. He never seemed to care about anything, so if he didn't care then why should she waste her time with him?

A few moments later, just before Kagura was going to growl in frustration and stomp away, Sesshomaru finally answered her. "He appeared before the priestess and the demon slayer. If you want answers, hassle them."

"Humph, fine," Kagura pulled out a feather, and tossed into the air to take flight. She cursed under her breath. _He's being even more of an arrogant jerk than usual..._

Sesshomaru waited for her to disappear above the canopy of the trees, and he got out of the spring to dry.

* * *

Inuyasha was idly leaning against a tree, staring up into the sky, and twitching his ears every now and then, when he picked up the disgusting scent of Naraku. He bolt up and glared in the direction the scent was coming from.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked. He was all business as he looked in the direction Inuyasha was glaring.

"Do you hear something?" Kagome asked as she ran to his side.

"Is something coming?" Sango placed her hand on Hiraikotsu, ready for a battle.

"Is Timmy stuck in a well?" Lily asked, while suppressing a laugh. Lavender elbowed her in the ribs with a smile on her face, and Saria crossed her arms in annoyance when Kagome let a laugh escape her lips.

"What?" Inuyasha momentarily forgot about Naraku's scent, and stared incredulously at Lily.

"Timmy can stay in the well for all I care..." Saria hated it whenever someone said that to her. They, her mom, aunt, and their close friends, all think it's hilarious when someone brings up the 'Timmy' thing whenever she hears something. She thought it was a degrading, and stupid joke.

"What do you sense, Little Guy?" Lavender steered the conversation back on track.

"It's Naraku," everyone around him, except for the twins, his father, and Saria, all glared at the sky, and concealed their shudders.

"No it's not."

"How do you know?"

"I'm not afraid of the aura," Saria stated knowingly. She'll never forget Naraku's aura. It scared her so much that she needed her mother to protect her. Also, his aura was something familiar to her, as if Naraku had visited her before.

"Well, it's possible it's one of Naraku's incarnations..." Kagome thought out loud.

"We'll find out soon enough. It'll be here any second..." Inuyasha pulled out his Tetsusaiga, and pointed it defensively in the direction of Naraku's aura.

The twins, Inu no Taisho, and Saria were unfazed by the whole situation. The twins thought too highly of themselves to believe anything but Naraku himself is a threat. Inu no Taisho, being a spectre, can only be harmed by other ghosts. And if Saria does not feel any fear before meeting the person being feared by people, then she does not see them as a threat either.

The wind picked up, whipping dust and dirt into everyone's eyes. Kagura landed on the ground, and the wind died down.

"What do you want, Kagura!" Inuyasha pointed his Tetsusaiga threateningly at the wind witch.

"Lower your weapons, I'm not here to fight." Kagura sighed when no one bothered to lower their weapons, but stated why she was there anyway. "Naraku is missing, and I spoke to Sesshomaru about it. He told me to speak to the priestess and the demon slayer."

"What? Why us?" Kagome looked around frantically with a blush on her face. She really did not want to explain what happened at the springs.

"We don't know why he did it!" Sango, also blushing madly like Kagome, twiddled her thumbs and looked away.

"So Naraku _was_ here?" Kagura ignored their odd behaviour, and narrowed her eyes, deep in thought. _Why didn't he at least let Hakudoushi or Kanna know he was back?_ Instead of trying to fathom the mind of an insane murderer, Kagura asked a different question, "What do you people know about a man named Hiro?"

Inuyasha placed Tetsusaiga back in its sheath, believing that this encounter really was all business and no fight. "Don't look at us, ask them." Inuyasha pointed to the twins, Saria, and Inu no Taisho who were all watching the conversation with great interest.

"Hiro?" Lily scratched her chin, thinking about what information she could afford to give. "He's super powerful. Basically omnipotent if you ask me..."

"What's 'omnipotent'?" Lavender asked herself while dumbly looking at the sky as if it would give her the answer.

"Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful," Saria recited the definition from the top of her head, almost mechanically.

"Oh..." Lavender looked back to Lily and Kagura, and waved them on to continue.

"He also lusts for destruction," Lily was still scratching her chin, and even started biting her nails a bit. It was a habit she had whenever she was trying to recall information. Unlike Saria, Lily can't simply remember _everything_, so by scratching her chin, she supposedly remembers a lot more. "Apparently he completely killed off an entire continent just because he felt like it... Or something along those lines... Gotta do some more investigating because as far as I know, Europe is still intact..."

"Is he more powerful than Naraku?" Kagura asked hopefully. She doubted it, but anyone described as 'omnipotent' must be someone who has a chance against Naraku. If Hiro kills the evil hanyou, then Kagura would be free.

"We don't know..." Lily solemnly looked up at Inu no Taisho, who gave her a helpless look back. They both silently agreed that they needed a lot more information on Naraku. Saria being afraid of him was not enough for them to go by.

"Aww, maaaan..." Lavender broke the momentary silence with her loud complaining. "If Hiro apparently knows everything about us, that makes him all-knowing. Put all knowing and all-powerful together, and you get a God. He even creates living things!" Lavender sighed, and ignored Lily when she rolled her eyes. "Well, this should be an interesting battle..."

Saria was watching the conversation like a tennis match. She was surprised when her aunt or mom didn't say one important detail. Well, her mother was the kind of person to forget such a detail, even if she was the one who had the vision of Naraku and Hiro. Lily on the other hand, probably had a reason, so Saria asked her about it in English first. _"Aren't you gonna tell her about how Naraku and Hiro are working together, aunt Lily?"_

"_No,"_ Lily was twisting her fingers around Sesshomaru's pelt as she spoke. Her fingers were tired of scratching her chin. _"If Kagura doesn't know already_-_"_ (Kagura stiffened. They could speak a different language, and they mentioned her name. That did not seem very good to her, they were probably hiding something) _"then perhaps there's a reason..."_

Saria nodded, and leaned back against the boa. She was now tired of talking about Naraku and Hiro, and felt as though it was a good time for a nap.

"Kagura, were you with Naraku when he disappeared?" Lily asked. She leaned forward, eager to hear the answer.

"Yes, why?"

"How did he disappear?"

"Well... a black hole opened up and it- ahh!" Kagura collapsed to her knees, clutching the left side of her chest. Her face held a look of pure agony, and she moaned in pain.

"What's wrong?" Lily ran to her side, and put an arm around Kagura's back. "What's happening?"

Kagura stopped moaning, and stopped clutching. She pulled a feather out of her hair, and tossed it into the air. "Looks like Naraku is looking for me..." _Damn... he's back._ She hopped onto her feather, and flew away.

"Shame. Oh well, I got what I wanted to know," Lily turned around to sit next to Inu no Taisho again, against Sesshomaru's boa, but she turned to find it missing, along with Lavender. Saria was on her back giving the sky a glare because her pillow was taken from beneath her, and she hit her head on the tree trunk.

"Sesshomaru! You're back!" Lavender skipped up to Sesshomaru with his boa trailing in the wind behind her. He had just entered the area as Kagura was leaving. "Don't worry, I kept it safe for you!"

Sesshomaru reached out to take his pelt from her outstretched hands, but she quickly jerked it back after finding a little spec of dirt on it. She quickly scrubbed it away, and handed it back.

"Sesshomaru-sama! You're back!" Jaken scrambled to get to his lord, but tripped over his own stumbling feet, which left Rin to step on him as she ran to her lord.

"Sorry Master Jaken, and welcome back Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin ran straight up to Sesshomaru, and craned her neck to see his face. Sesshomaru glanced at Rin, and looked back up to Lavender.

"Did Kagura betray Naraku once again?" Sesshomaru asked Lavender.

"If by betray, you mean leak out information about Naraku, then..." Lavender turned to Lily. She really did not know if Kagura gave them useful information.

"Yeah, she did."

"Like what?" Inuyasha looked at Lily sceptically. "I don't remember her saying anything useful."

"Well, Inuyasha," Miroku took a step forward to speak words of wisdom. "Did you notice how Kagura fell in pain? Then said that Naraku was looking for her?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Naraku must have done that to her, then," Sango supplied the answer for Miroku.

"Exactly," Miroku nodded his head, and continued. "He did it part-way through Kagura's sentence."

"Are you saying that Naraku was trying to keep Kagura quiet?" Shippo asked excitedly. They were finally getting somewhere.

"Well as far as I know that Kagura didn't say anything important," Jaken snapped. It was bad enough having to travel with Rin, but now they have to travel with Inuyasha and his friends, along with the twins? That was unbearable, and his patience with those people was running thin. His lord and his whims were always a hassle for Jaken.

"Sure she did," Lily finally spoke up after watching the conversation with amusement. Miroku and Sango were smart enough to spot what happened, so they'll probably be helpful later on in their travels. "She said she saw a black hole, and Naraku disappeared."

"You know what the hole is?" Inuyasha asked. He didn't like playing guessing games; he wanted to get right to the answer.

"I've seen Naraku use it when he left the springs, it's the time portal."

"So Hiro is working from present day then, huh?" Lavender stated. She then thought about her friends at home, and felt a little worried. "Uh, I say we go back now..."

"Nope, he's working in this time period, so this is where we're gonna stay."

"As long as he stays away from the house, then it's all good... I guess..." Lavender was still worried about her friends. They were like family to her.

"Hmm..." Miroku had a troubled look on his face as he pondered about Hiro and the time portal. "If Hiro created the time portal to catch Naraku, then that would mean that Hiro is able to see what goes on in this era."

"Yeah, he's all knowing alright," Lavender sighed. Godly people were not the kind of people you wanted to have a dispute with.

"Well then, lets be on our way..." Lily closed her eyes, and concentrated, looking for the mass of mana that she could feel emanating in the westerly direction. She opened her eyes, and started walking to the West. Inu no Taisho, with Saria sitting on his shoulder, walked next to her.

"Finally," Inuyasha huffed, and follow behind Lily.

"Wait for me, Inuyasha!" Kagome jogged to his side, with Shippo in her arms. Sango and Miroku followed behind them, with Kirara on the demon slayer's shoulder. Lavender followed after them.

Rin started walking too, but Jaken and Ah-Uh stayed behind, not wanting to go ahead of their Lord, who at the moment was not moving. Rin suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder. She then ran back to Sesshomaru, catching Lavender's eye.

"Sesshomaru, aren't you coming too?"

He looked past her, and into the horizon towards the West. "No."

"What? Why?" Lavender quickly interrogated him. She needed Sesshomaru to come with them, that was the whole point of having Inuyasha and him get together, so that they could all travel together.

The rest of the group stopped and turned to watch the upcoming argument.

Sesshomaru simply turned around, and walked in the opposite direction. His entourage followed close behind.

"Sesshomaru! You can't leave!" Lavender protested, but after realizing that he was not going to pay her any attention, she turned to other means of persuasion. "Don't make me fight you!"

Sesshomaru turned slightly to see Lavender. She smiled in triumph, but it quickly faded after Sesshomaru spoke. "Do you recall the first time you attempted to do me harm?"

"I've done a lot more training to get the hang of my transformations, ya know!" she hollered back.

"I haven't, so don't expect me to help you out in any sticky situations..." Lily said bluntly. It was true she hadn't done any training. After she thought about it, she should do a little catching up on their breaks if she wanted to beat Hiro and Naraku.

Lavender turned around completely to look Lily in the eye. "I don't need you! I'm strong enough on my own! I can-" before she knew it, Lavender was sprawled on the ground due to Tokijin's blast. There was a small, smoking crater in the ground just in front of the spot she was standing at moments before.

Lavender, after a few moments of lying on the ground with a stunned look on her face, slowly stood up with the most evil glare she could muster. Everyone around her had a shocked look on her face, and Inuyasha was glaring at Sesshomaru, with his hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt waiting for Lavender's reaction.

She glared at him with her most evil look, and her mouth kept opening and closing, trying to think of something to say, but she was at a loss for words. Sesshomaru was simply standing in an offensive pose, holding his Tokijin, waiting for Lavender to attack.

"You... you..." she let out a growl of frustration for not knowing what to call him. "You're such a... a... _bitch_..."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow; he could not believe that that was the best thing she could come up with. It must be a sign that he seriously angered her so much that she cannot properly think.

"You _bitch_, how _dare you_..." Lavender was now pointing an angry finger at Sesshomaru. "How _dare_ you attack me when I had my back turned! You coward."

"You had obviously not done enough training if you were incapable of sensing my attack," Sesshomaru was inwardly smirking at Lavender. He'd let Lavender's words go by unnoticed. It was admittedly an unfair attack, however he did not actually attack _her_, he attacked the ground just _behind_ her.

"You wanna fight then? Okay, I can give you that. But I'm not gonna go easy on you." Lavender's body was licked with black and blue flames sprouting from her feet, and she appeared before the group as a white tigress as soon as the flames died down. Her haori was blue with a black obi, and she wore silver greaves on her black boots. Her new sapphire eyes sparkled with excitement as she used her magic ability to create two thick swords of ice, complete with jagged edges. Her anger vanished quickly as the prospect of finally getting some good, fighting action came to mind.

Lavender spun the two swords in her hands by flicking her wrist. She after she stepped into her fighting stance, she held the swords firmly upside-down. "I hope you're ready..."

Sesshomaru stood still, waiting for Lavender's attack. She bolted forward, holding her right arm in front of her, ready to slash at her opponent. Sesshomaru sprinted towards her at the same moment, and their swords clashed. Lavender brought her left arm up, hooked it around Tokijin, and pulled as hard as she could in order to shove Tokijin aside and create an opening for an attack. Sesshomaru smirked, and let his sword's evil energy seep from the demonic blade. The evil energy began to eat away at both of Lavender's ice swords, and she jumped away from it.

Lavender tossed her swords aside, and called out to Lily. "Hey, Lil?"

"What?"

"Can you give me my twin blades so I can fight without Sesshomaru melting my weapons?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said I wasn't gonna help you in sticky situations."

"Humph...Bitch..."

"The effect of the word is gonna wear out if you call everyone a bitch, ya know..."

Lavender sprinted forward once again (ignoring Lily), intending to have a hand-to-hand battle. Sesshomaru however decided to stick with Tokijin, and slashed at Lavender with his light blue blasts of energy.

Lavender skilfully dodged the attack, and manoeuvred herself around to Sesshomaru's left-handed side, taking advantage of his lack of arm. Sesshomaru of course was not a fool, and swiftly turned around to send another blast hurdling towards Lavender. She stopped and executed a perfect back flip to get far away from him. Then she smirked, and her body began to morph quickly into a full-grown white tiger. In a flash, Lavender ran and pounced onto Sesshomaru's shoulder, shattering his spiky shoulder-plate, and slightly piercing his skin. However, as soon as her claws met his flesh, she was thrown off his shoulder because Sesshomaru had turned to the side, leaving Lavender with no solid structure to cling and stop on.

Lavender was sent cascading into a nearby tree, and she morphed back to her normal, tigress state. "Fast, eh?"

Sesshomaru made a 'humph' sound, and leaped into the air. Then, with amazing speed much greater than Lavender's, he sped to the ground, and slashed out at her. She barely got away as she rolled backwards, further into the thicket of trees that surrounded them.

As the fight raged on, Lily was rolling her eyes, and simply being bored. "They're just wasting time, let's get moving."

Lily started walking away, but then stopped as she realized no one was following. Inu no Taisho frowned at her, clearly not wanting to leave.

"Don't worry about them, Captain," Lily tugged on his arm, trying to pull him away from the show.

"Yeah grandpa," Saria leaned forward from on top of his shoulder. "Mama is just playing, and this is boring."

Inu no Taisho sighed, and followed Lily. There were many times in which he does not understand Sesshomaru, and that was one of those times. He was not sure if he would actually try and do real harm to Lavender, or if he was just getting in some sparring time.

Kagome, Sango, and Miroku did the same. Inuyasha on the other hand wanted to stay and watch: to see if Lavender could possibly humiliate Sesshomaru by pinning him to the ground, or something along those lines. "You guys go ahead, I'll stay and bring Lavender back when this is over." Inuyasha then sat down cross-legged, watching the show with interest.

"I wish to stay as well. I want to wait for Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin happily skipped to Ah-Un, who had already settled down in the middle of the path, and she sat next to him. Jaken sat down on the other side of Ah-Un with a 'huff'.

Lavender was forced further and further into the woods by Sesshomaru's advance. She thought quickly, and began to make another transformation as she dodged his attacks. Her fur and her long tail began to retract into her body, as she donned on a human appearance, aside from the black stripes that remained on her skin.

Lavender ducked behind a tree just as Sesshomaru attacked with another blue blast of energy. Half of the tree she used as cover was blown off by the attack, and Lavender sighed in relief because she was hiding behind the intact half of the tree.

She could hear Sesshomaru's feet crush the twigs and leaves beneath him, as he neared her hiding place. When he was close enough, Lavender's body was engulfed in darkness as she melted into her own shadow. Only her silhouette was visible, not her body. Sesshomaru quickly slashed out at the tree, which then fell to the ground cleanly sliced in two. His eye caught the movement of a shadow, which quickly made its way toward him.

Lavender, in the form of a shadow, ran straight by Sesshomaru's feet, and up his back. Her body then appeared in full as the darkness washed away. She had her legs wrapped around his waist, and her left arm tight around his neck. Her other hand held a sharp, ice dagger threateningly close to Sesshomaru's neck. He could only watch her do so as there really was nothing he could do against a shadow.

"I got'cha!" Lavender was smiling happily; it was so long since she had so much fun like that. Her chest was heaving with fatigue due to all the dodging and running.

"It would seem as though you do."

Lavender gave him a puzzled look, unnoticed by Sesshomaru, and she very suddenly found herself flying through the air. Sesshomaru had thrown her over his shoulder by her right arm bearing the dagger.

Sesshomaru followed above her as Lavender flew through the air, and immediately pined her down. He straddled her body, kneeling on one knee, and his other foot was placed firmly against her arm, so that she could not move it. The blade of Tokijin was set lightly against her neck.

"Okay, ya got me..."Lavender sighed in defeat, and simply laid back, enjoying how close Sesshomaru was to her.

"I hope you learn to never challenge me again." Sesshomaru took Tokijin away from her neck, to give her more room to breathe, and sheathed it. Lavender's chest was heaving with all that excitement (in her case at least. Anyone else fighting Sesshomaru would be the least bit excited).

"If it means we'll end up like this," Lavender leaned forward, and grasped the collar of Sesshomaru's haori tightly in her hand. "Then I probably wont learn..." their faces were at least a foot apart. Lavender leaned forward even more, but hesitated. She wanted to kiss him so badly, since the first moment she saw him in seven years. Sesshomaru made no move to get away, and it seemed as though he was waiting for her to kiss him. So, she clumsily pressed her lips against his with her eyes tightly shut, and pulled back quickly with a slight blush.

Sesshomaru did not make any move towards her, or away from her. She took that as a good sign, and leaned forward once again, but more confident than before, thinking he wanted more (or was at least neutral to the idea). Before she could reach him though, Sesshomaru stood up, and Lavender released his shirt.

He turned his back to her, and spoke. "I will no longer be travelling with Inuyasha."

Lavender was still in her same position with puckered up lips, angry with herself for not kissing him quicker. "Why not?"

"I do not need to explain myself."

"I want you to come with me... I want to be with you..." Lavender cast her eyes down to the ground. After so long of being apart, he was telling her to leave again?

"You may do as you wish, however I will no longer travel with the hanyou."

Lavender's eyes lit up. To her, he basically just invited her to stay with him. "What did Inuyasha do to make you wanna leave?"

Sesshomaru's reason was that Inuyasha was simply _born_, but Lavender, being so protective of the boy, would probably turn on him and they would have a pointless argument. "He is a nuisance. I stayed with the hanyou while waiting for you, however I no longer see a point to staying with him any longer. I have my own plans to take care of." Sesshomaru turned around to look at Lavender.

She was sitting with her legs pulled up against her, and she sighed. She had a choice. Stay with Inuyasha, who she loved like a son, and who, out of the two brothers, probably needed her more. Or go with Sesshomaru, who she also loved, but was almost certain now that he did not love her anymore (or if he even did love her at all in the first place). She knew she should stay with Inuyasha, however the entire point of the twins travelling through time, to get where they were, would be lost if she did not stay with Sesshomaru. They all believed that the twins came only to destroy Hiro, and Naraku as well. However, the twins had a more secret goal in mind.

"I wanna talk to Lily first... come with me, kay?" Lavender gave her best puppy-dog look, but Sesshomaru didn't buy it.

"Do as you wish. I am leaving now," and he did just that. He turned around, and headed back in the direction Rin and Jaken were waiting.

"But... eh..." Lavender quickly scrambled to her feet, and ran to get Inuyasha. When Sesshomaru's mind was made up, there was nothing that could be done to change it.

* * *

Inuyasha watched as Lavender was sent running into the dense forest, trying to escape Sesshomaru's advance. He was thinking about following them into the denseness of the trees, however the blasts of blue light appearing in every direction told him to stay back or he might get caught in a crossfire. Not that Inuyasha thought that he, with the help of his trusted Tetsusaiga, could possibly be harmed by a few of his big brother's measly attacks, he just did not want to worry Lavender.

She still thought of him as a child, therefore still over-protective. He did not mind the over-protectiveness, but someday she will have to get over it. For now, it was good for her to have her way.

A few minutes passed by, and the blasting stopped. Inuyasha stood up; ready to retrieve Lavender and take her back to the group, but Rin stopped him.

"Sesshomaru-sama and Lavender will come back for us, don't worry," she gave him a cheery smile, and started humming a sweet little tune.

Inuyasha frowned, and pensively sat down next to her, a few feet away. "What're you so happy about?"

"Huh?" Rin's eyebrows knitted together in concentration. Then her face relaxed into another toothy grin. "I'm just happy to be with Sesshomaru-sama."

Inuyasha huffed and looked away. "How can someone be happy to be with my stuck up, arrogant, bastard of a brother?"

"Don't talk about Sesshomaru-sama that way, you worthless half-breed!" Jaken was standing on Ah-Un's back, pointing the Staff of Two Heads at Inuyasha threateningly.

"I can talk about my bastard half-brother however I want!" Inuyasha crossed his arms, with his nose in the air, looking like a spoiled child. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

"Oh yeah? Feel the wrath of the Staff of Two- gah!" Jaken hopped off Ah-Un's back, and began running in circles trying to escape Inuyasha's claws, which were mere inches away from his shirt collar.

"What are you waiting for? Attack me!" Inuyasha happily chased Jaken as if it was a game. He came up behind Jaken and grabbed his wrists. His stubby legs were kicking around in the air as Inuyasha held him off the ground. The staff was laying a few metres away.

"Oh no! Master Jaken!" Rin jumped up and tugged on Inuyasha's hakama shyly.

"What is it, kid?" Inuyasha drew his attention away from torturing Jaken, and looked down at Rin.

"Could you please put Master Jaken down? I think you're hurting him."

Inuyasha released Jaken, and he fell to the ground with a small 'thump'. Inuyasha bent down so he was at eye-level with the little human girl. "Why do you stick up for that runt? And I still don't get why you like Sesshomaru so much." Inuyasha analyzed Rin. She was certainly an enigma to him.

"Well, when I was an orphan in the village I lived in, we were attacked by wolves, and I tried to run away to find Sesshomaru-sama because he was hurt and I was trying to take care of him, and he was in the forest, and I thought that maybe he could help me. So when I was going to Sesshomaru-sama, some wolves found me and they killed me! But then I woke up again, and Sesshomaru-sama was holding me, and I started following him, and he protects me all the time even though he doesn't have to, and even Master Jaken protects me and I'm very thankful to be with them because if I wasn't then I wouldn't be alive."

Inuyasha's eyes were wide. He stared at Rin for a while after she finished speaking, expecting her to continue, but she never did. Rin blushed when she saw the look on Inuyasha's face.

"Sorry... I talk a lot, and I've been told that I'm very annoying when I do that..."

"Huh? No, it's not that, it's just that..." _How can Sesshomaru protect a strange human child so easily, and yet not be able to protect me, his own brother, when I need him the most?_ "Nothing, never mind..." Inuyasha felt a little more respect for the little girl. She had to be special if even Sesshomaru is willing to protect her.

Meanwhile, Jaken had gone for his staff to teach Inuyasha a lesson, but he stopped when Rin began to ramble on and on about his lord. He was getting annoyed hearing her talk so much, and he was about to snap at her, until she mentioned how grateful she was to be with him. He felt a pang of happiness and likeness towards Rin, but then he scared himself. Jaken didn't like Rin; she was an annoying chatterbox to him. In his confusedness, Jaken ran around to the far side of Ah-Un, and settled himself there, waiting for Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru stepped into the clearing as soon as Jaken settled himself next to Ah-Un. Lavender was following directly behind him, with a worried expression on her face.

Inuyasha straightened up, and hollered out to Lavender "Hey, are we going back now?"

"Uh, yeah..." she smiled at Inuyasha, and her bright blue eyes shone with a new excitement. "Wanna race?"

Inuyasha gave her a lopsided grin, with his fang poking out like a rebel. "If I win, you have to give me your share of dinner."

"Okay, but if I win, you have to carry me around for an hour. I'm starting to get tired of walking..." Lavender smiled mischievously, and Inuyasha suddenly felt a feeling of dread. "Rin? Can you count to three and say go?"

"Okay!" Rin smiled, and watched as Lavender and Inuyasha lined themselves up next to each other. "One... Two... Three... GO!"

Inuyasha bolted ahead of Lavender, and was in the lead until he reached about halfway to the group. He risked slowing down slightly to see Lavender, but she wasn't anywhere near him. He slowed down a little more to pick up her scent, and that was when he found her. She was gaining up on him, and fast. Inuyasha picked up speed, worried that she might actually win, but then his doubts were verified. Lavender, as a black and white, full-sized tiger, passed him in the blink of an eye. He sighed in defeat. There was no way he'd catch up to her now.

Inuyasha reached the group, who had stopped as soon as Lavender arrived. He slowed to a stop beside Kagome.

"Looks like I win, hotshot!" Lavender winked and ruffled his hair. "There's no way I'd ever give up a dinner! Besides, this body was made for speed, baby!" Her tigress body transformed back into its human state, and Lavender silently thanked her sister for teaching her how to control her magical flame, and _not_ let it burn up her clothes.

"Dammit..." Inuyasha looked sullenly towards the ground.

"Is papa gonna come back?" Saria asked her mother from on top of her grandfather's shoulder.

"Umm... sorry baby, but he says he has some other things he needs to take care of..." her worried expression came back, and she looked towards Lily for help. "I don't wanna leave him alone... it scares me..."

"You want to go with him, then?"

Lavender nodded silently. She was truly afraid of what might happen if she, or her sister, weren't there to help him if something happened.

"You're worried about Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. His brother certainly had a lot more admirers than he would have expected. "He may be an arrogant bastard, but he's not stupid, or weak. He can take care of himself."

Lavender gave Inuyasha an unbelieving look. "There's a lot of dangerous stuff out there that Sesshomaru doesn't know about..."

"Lavender, just go stay with Sesshomaru, okay? Saria or the Captain can go with you for back up if you want, but I'm gonna stay here," Lily looked to Saria and Inu no Taisho, to see which one was going to volunteer themselves to go with her twin.

"I wanna stay with grandpa..." Saria whined and clung to Inu no Taisho's shoulder plates tightly.

Lavender was not exactly upset that her daughter did not want to go with her, but rather she wanted to stay with Inu no Taisho too. "Can't they both come with me?"

"What? No way, I want some back up too, ya know..." Lily took a quick step back closer to Inu no Taisho.

"Fine, I'll go by myself... Someone's gotta do it..." Lavender stalked off angrily; towards the spot she last left Sesshomaru. Everyone called out their good-byes, and waved as she stomped away.

"No one's better for the job of guardian than you are, considering it's yours in the first place," Lily hollered, smiling at her sister as she kept walking in the wrong direction. "And by the way, he's over in that direction." She pointed through the trees, in the southwest direction.

Without a word, Lavender turned and headed through the trees.

The group began their journey once again, feeling a lot smaller than before Sesshomaru's group, and Lavender left. Inu no Taisho was feeling a mixture of sadness and guiltiness. He was sad that Lavender had to leave by herself, and that even Sesshomaru left when he did not actually need to. He was guilty because he knew Sesshomaru was not going to be happy if he knew that Inu no Taisho had a choice to travel with him, or Inuyasha, then chose the latter. Inuyasha on the other hand was simply sulking about how Lavender decided to stay with Sesshomaru instead of him.

"Why did she have to leave?" he asked Lily as he frowned at the ground.

"Because we decided that if something like this were to happen, we'd split up. We decided that someone had to stay with Sesshomaru, and someone with you."

"But why does one of you have to stay with Sesshomaru?" Shippo asked from on top of Kagome's shoulder. "Inuyasha's right, he's strong enough to take care of himself."

"It's not that we're worried about..." Lily suddenly felt paranoid, as if someone was watching them. "No more questions about it, okay?"

"But what about one of you staying with us?" Sango, too, got in on the interrogation. "There's more of us who can fight, but Sesshomaru just has Jaken. Wouldn't it makes sense for both of you to be with Sesshomaru's group?"

"It's not about who can fight, and who can't, it's all about having someone in your group who knows all about magic. Magic doesn't exist with you guys; it's all demonic energy. There's a huge difference. There could be cases where demonic energy is useless against magic, but at the same time it can work vice versa. Lavender and I can only use magic, so you guys need us just as much as we need you. Saria on the other hand, can use both. That's why she's so strong, and the Captain doesn't have either magic or demonic energy, but c'mon, no one can fight a ghost. I'd say the strongest people here are Saria and the Captain, because they don't have any weaknesses." Lily took a breath from her little speech, and looked around at everyone. "We good?"

Everyone nodded his or her head in agreement.

"Good."

The journey was not nearly as exciting as before. Inuyasha felt a little empty inside. He was thinking about catching up to Lavender and travelling with her instead, but then he remembered Sesshomaru and was undecided about whether or not being with Lavender was worth the anguish of being with Sesshomaru too.

They travelled in silence, all contemplating what Lily had said. This was a very new concept for them all. A new power to them, which could be unaffected by their power or even vice versa. As long as they stayed together, they should be safe.

* * *

Lavender was grumbling curses under her breath. It would be just fine if it were just she and Sesshomaru, travelling together, and all alone. The only missing factor was that he did not love her; therefore them being alone together would simply be awkward. At least Jaken and Rin were there to lighten the mood, but there was no way Lavender would try and be flirtatious with the great Lord with them around, so there would be no advances in their relationship. The last problem that irked Lavender was that if something happened... would she actually be able to protect Sesshomaru alone?

As soon as that last thought entered her mind, a sudden flash of lightning caught her attention. She looked up, startled, and gasped at what she had seen. In a small area ahead of her, in Sesshomaru's direction, the sky was painted dark with black clouds, and flashes of lightning were striking the ground in every direction. Closely following the blasts of light, were loud claps of thunder.

Lavender did not waste any time, she quickly transformed in a wisp of black and blue, and she quickly changed into her tiger form to get to her destination faster. The life of the man she loved was in danger, as well as her precious treasure.

* * *

"Let the games begin!" Hiro gave a hardy laugh as he gazed through his large crystal ball, situated in his library. "Come here, dear, and watch the show."

Jewel strode towards Hiro, her light feet barely making a noise on the stone floor, and glanced over his shoulder. "Naraku believes the taiyoukai has the crystal?"

"Looks like it," Hiro grinned happily into his crystal ball, and then turned to face Jewel. "Did you get what you needed?"

"Yes, but I think it will take a while to get the fighter and sorceress' souls if I want to remain a secret from them..."

"Ah, but patience is a virtue," Hiro cupped Jewel's glassy, pink cheek, and placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose.

Jewel felt a shiver down her spine. It wasn't often that Hiro would touch her so gently. She stood up on her tiptoes, trying to kiss Hiro's lips, but he clasped his hand over her mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah, you know the rules..." Hiro said as he wagged his finger at her. "I don't want you to go and copy my soul. We can't have two of me, can we? You've got a dangerous kiss, and you know I can't trust you."

Jewel sighed, and leaned closer to Hiro. "But you can... I wont hurt you."

Hiro bent his head down, and pressed his lips to Jewel's glassy forehead. "The only trustworthy people out there are fools, and you're no fool, my valued jewel."

Jewel smiled into his chest. She loved to hear him compliment her, because she always knew he was telling the truth. Hiro continued to gently kiss Jewel, and she nearly melted in his embrace. He continued down along her jaw line, down her neck, and he became more vigorous adding a little tongue, pressing her closer to his body. A particularly loud bang of thunder pried his attention from his prized Jewel, and he gazed deeply into his crystal ball.

Jewel sighed. She liked it much better when he was not so distracted.

* * *

"Something's wrong..." Lily abruptly stopped in her tracks, and snapped her head into Sesshomaru's direction.

Everyone strained to try and sense what Lily had sensed, and Kagome let out a little gasp. "I can feel shard of the Shikkon Jewel in that direction!"

"Let's go," Inuyasha didn't miss a beat in gathering Kagome on his back.

"Right. Kirara!" Sango hopped on the back of her transformed feline friend. Miroku followed suit, and plucked Shippo off Kagome's shoulder, knowing the small fox demon would probably be blown away after Inuyasha got moving.

Lily transformed in a flash of green and white flames sprouting from the ground, and in her tiger form she let a small growl rumble in her throat. She rushed off into the direction of all the commotion, with Inuyasha and Kirara following. Inu no Taisho ran next to his son, with Saria securely perched on his shoulder.

* * *

Sesshomaru sensed Naraku's presence, but immediately registered the fact that it was simply another of Naraku's puppets. At the same moment, he picked up the scent of the child named Kohaku.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, and took a step back, closer to Rin. Kohaku entered his line of vision through the trees, with a dark miasma following him. The boy was wearing his green slayer outfit, with his scythe tucked away in his belt. He did not have his usual emotionless look in his eyes; instead he looked worried and pleading.

Naraku's evil chuckle flitted through the trees, and to Sesshomaru. "Ah, Sesshomaru-sama. I have some business I need to take care of that involves you. And just to be safe, I'd send the little girl there with Kohaku for protection. If you trust him that is."

Kohaku walked towards Rin. His eyes were pleading, hoping that Sesshomaru would trust him. However, he still would not hand Rin over to one of Naraku's minions. Besides, why should he? It was just one of Naraku's puppets, he could get rid of it quickly enough.

Very suddenly, a strong wind was pushing against all the trees, and even Sesshomaru. He stood rooted to the ground, but the force however blew Rin and Jaken away. Sesshomaru quickly turned around to get to them, but Naraku's puppet appeared in front of Sesshomaru, stopping him in his tracks. He tried to get around the demon puppet, but it sprouted tree-like tentacles, making him larger, and more formidable. Kohaku let the wind carry him past Sesshomaru to get to Rin, and he whispered two words: "trust me".

Sesshomaru had no intentions of trusting Rin's life with Kohaku, and as soon as he destroyed the damn puppet, he would be at her side before Kohaku.

"Don't think you can get past me so easily," Naraku chuckled, irritating Sesshomaru. "I've learned a few new tricks."

The sky made a loud rumbling noise, and the clouds above them turned black. Lightning struck the trees, setting fire to them, and knocking them down. The miasma grew much thicker than before, and it started eroding away at the trees, and land, until everything around them became dead and useless.

* * *

Lavender tore through the forest, destroying a few unlucky plants along the way, and she came to a sudden stop once she reached her destination. The putrid miasma floating around like a fog, creating a dead clearing in the middle of a forest, decayed the entire land. Sesshomaru was standing in the middle of the clearing, with a creature directly in front of him. It wore a baboon's pelt, but it was half-torn because of the tree-like tentacles protruding from beneath it.

She quickly transformed, and stood on two feet, then raced to Sesshomaru's side. The fog irritated her skin, and she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from choking on it.

Sesshomaru turned his head sharply in her direction, and he barked out an order. "Go find Rin, now!"

"What happened to her?" Lavender was frantically scanning Sesshomaru's body for any visible injuries.

"Go!"

Lavender quickly sprinted in the direction Rin's scent was originating from. She exited the dead clearing, and began dodging trees, searching for the little girl. The miasma began to clear up, and soon she was in clean air. Up ahead of her, she saw three figures. The short, stubby, loud one she recognized as Jaken. Rin's lopsided ponytail was in the middle, holding the hand of the third figure, one she didn't know.

"Rin!" the figures all turned around as Lavender came to a halt in front of them. "Are you okay?"

"Yes! I'm fine!" Rin looked up happily at the boy next to her. "This is Kohaku, he's helping us!"

Lavender was only half-listening as she checked Rin for injuries. She had a few scratches and bruises on her arms and legs. Kohaku noticed the concerned look in Lavender's eyes as she inspected Rin.

"She was blown away by the wind, and the twigs and trees injured her," he looked at Lavender with a determined look. "I'll keep her safe."

"Right, be careful Rin, Sesshomaru will kill me if anything happens."

"Kill _you_?" Jaken started jumping around angrily beside Rin. "What do you think he's gonna do to ME?" Lavender was already gone before he could even finish his sentence.

_Kohaku seems trustworthy enough. Besides, even Jaken can take on a human if he needs to._ Lavender thought as she sped through the forest. She marvelled at how easily Sesshomaru was able to order her around. She was told she was stubborn, so why did she leave Sesshomaru, whom she had been fretting over since he left her sight, so easily? _Damn he's good..._

As soon as Lavender appeared in the lifeless clearing in which Sesshomaru was fighting, she was happy to see the others had showed up as well.

"Lave! Get in here!" Lily's arms were out-stretched, supporting a green barrier, keeping out the deadly poisons. "It's corrosive!"

Lavender quickly sprinted to the barrier, and settled inside of it. "That's probably why my skin feels so itchy..." Lavender started scratching her sides and arms vigorously, and chunks of fur started floating to the ground. "Why isn't Sesshomaru in here?"

"He's immune to the poison," Lily said, watching as Sesshomaru evaded the tentacles shooting towards him.

"Kagome, where is the jewel shard?" Inuyasha asked quickly.

"Er... it's over there," Kagome timidly pointed in the direction Lavender had come from. She knew it was Kohaku, but she did not want to alert Sango.

"Okay, let's go!"

"Inuyasha, don't be stupid," Miroku said sensibly. "You're going to get eaten alive by the miasma." Even as he spoke, the fog grew even thicker.

"Well, how are we supposed to find the jewel shard then?"

"I'll go! I have immunity to poison too, like papa!" Saria sprung off Inu no Taisho's shoulder, and ran out into the miasma.

"But, uh, Saria!" Kagome frantically called to Saria, worried that she might actually kill Kohaku for the shard. Saria looked back, waiting for Kagome to speak. "Um... Don't take the shard, okay?"

"What? Why not?" Inuyasha asked furiously. Sango seemed to understand immediately though.

"It's Kohaku, isn't it?"

Kagome solemnly nodded her head. "We can't take the shard until we find a way to save him." Sango smiled and nodded at her friend.

"So what am I doing then?" Saria asked, standing outside of the barrier, not exactly sure what to do.

"Stay with Rin, bring her back when the coast is clear!" Lavender called out.

"Kay, bye for now!" she gave everyone a backwards wave, and sprinted through the forest.

"What's taking Sesshomaru so long?" Inuyasha was tapping his foot, just itching to go and fight in place of his brother. "It's just a puppet."

"Something's wrong..." Lavender kept a close eye on Sesshomaru, and noticed that his movements were sluggish. "Maybe the poison is just a little too strong..."

Miroku watch Naraku closely, his miasma shouldn't be strong enough to faze Sesshomaru. "Naraku seems stronger, his tentacles don't seem to give way as easily as they usually do."

"You're right," Inuyasha unsheathed his trusted Tetsusaiga. "I'm going out there to get rid of that stupid puppet."

"Stop," Inu no Taisho placed a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "I'll handle it."

"Goooo, Captain!" the twins cheered in unison as Inu no Taisho passed through Lily's green barrier. A small smile adorned his lips.

"Get back, he is my prey," Sesshomaru basically snarled at his father. His eyes were tinged slightly red, and his breathing was heavy.

"You've spent too much time in the miasma, let me take care of things."

Inu no Taisho casually walked towards Naraku's demon puppet. Tentacles were sent flying at him, but they never touched him. They passed straight through Inu no Taisho's phantom body. When he was close enough, Inu no Taisho leaped high into the air, and disappeared inside of Naraku's body. The general landed on the other side of the demon puppet, and it began to dissolve into the wind. Inu no Taisho was holding the small wooden puppet, crushed in his hand.

The miasma began to dissipate, along with the dark clouds, and everyone was able to leave the safety of the green barrier. Sesshomaru immediately rushed away to find Rin.

"Kohaku..." Inuyasha muttered under his breath, and ran after Sesshomaru. The rest follow after the two brothers.

* * *

"Saria!" Rin smiled and ran to meet Saria who had just appeared behind her.

"Hi Rin!" Saria greeted her friend, and turned to Jaken. "Hi Jaken!"

He grumbled a small 'hello', not liking being treated like a child. If he snapped back, Sesshomaru would probably beat him for it.

"This is Kohaku," Rin pointed to the young slayer, who said 'hello' back. "He's helping us."

"That's good," Saria had a weird feeling about the boy, and wasn't as cheerful greeting him as she was with Rin. His eyes held an honest look, but looks were never enough when it comes to trust. She then noticed the clouds disappear, and assumed that the coast was clear. "Let's go back."

"Okay, bye Kohaku!" Rin followed behind Saria, and Jaken behind Rin. They didn't even take two steps before Rin was pulled back, tumbling over Jaken, and dragged away by Kohaku.

"I knew something was suspicious about you!" Saria turned and jumped into the air. Kohaku turned around, and slashed at her with his scythe. Saria dodged it easily, and brought her fist down on Kohaku's head. He was thrown back a few feet, and sat motionless.

"No! Kohaku!" Rin ran to his side to make sure he was all right.

"What're you doing? He tried to take you away!" Saria roughly tugged Rin away from Kohaku after noticing his hand twitch slightly.

"But... he's my friend..." Rin looked sadly at Saria, who had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. What kind of friend hurts you?

Kohaku stood up, and looked Saria right in the eye. His eyes were clouded over, and didn't seem to hold any life. Saria was startled at the look. It was much different than before. He picked up his scythe, and threw it at Saria once again.

Saria caught it by the handle, and was mindful of the blade. "I'm just gonna knock him out, kay Rin?" Kohaku tried to tug his scythe free, but Saria wouldn't let go. She raced forward, and passed Kohaku so she could strike him on the back of his head. Kohaku fell unconscious to the ground. "He'll be okay when he wakes up," Saria said as Rin let out a frightened gasp.

Sesshomaru came up behind Saria and Rin, and looked at the unconscious form of Kohaku. Inuyasha came up behind Sesshomaru. When he saw Kohaku's state, he rushed forward so see if he was okay. The rest of the group came after.

"Kohaku!" Sango ran to her little brother's side, and lifted his head onto her lap.

Kagome sighed with relief at what she saw. Kohaku was okay, but at the same time he couldn't turn on anyone because of his state. "Oh! Lily, do you think your magic can cure Kohaku?"

"What do you mean?" Lily looked at Kohaku. It didn't seem as though he needed a cure.

"Naraku has him possessed, and he even took away all of his memories," Kagome's eyes pleaded with Lily.

"I can find a way, just give me some time."

"We can bring Kohaku with us, and maybe Lily will find a way to cure him when he wakes up," Miroku placed a comforting hand on Sango's shoulder. She nodded, and stood up.

Inuyasha picked up Kohaku, and as he walked away, something glittery fell from Kohaku's pouch.

"Ooo, that's pretty," Lavender walked towards it, and crouched down to take a look. It was in the shape of a diamond, and its many edges reflected the light beautifully. "It's a crystal. I love crystals!" Lavender picked it up, but a large shock of electricity shot through her arm and made her drop it. In the exact same instant, Sesshomaru was brought to his knees, clutching his heart.

"Oh no!" Lily rushed to check Lavender's arm, which had jagged black burns origination from her fingertips, reaching as far as her elbow.

"I-I c-can't move m-my arm," Lavender's eyes were sparkling with unshed tears.

Lily quickly moved to see Sesshomaru, who was being pampered by his father. She quickly tore off his armour and haori to reveal a large black burn mark on his left chest. His breathing became jagged as everything around him became dark, and he fainted. Lily looked back to see her twin lying unconscious on the ground as well.

Sesshomaru was placed on his back so Lily could take a closer look at him.

"Why is Sesshomaru hurt if Lavender was the one who touched that crystal?" Shippo asked from Kagome's arms. He jumped to his mother figure when the shock frightened him.

"It's, well... It's because..." Lily was busy trying to figure out what was happening and couldn't think straight.

Saria's eyes were glistening with tears as she looked at her father. "Papa's heart stopped... it wont move, like mama's arm wont move..."

"What?" Lily checked Sesshomaru's pulse, and sure enough, there was none. "The, the crystal... break it! This has to be a curse or spell placed by Hiro!"

Inuyasha, who had set Kohaku down to watch over Lavender, took out his Tetsusaiga, and by using both hands he brought it down on the crystal, shattering it in thousands of pieces. A few small sparks flickered along the shards, and the pieces vanished into thin air. Everyone turned to look at either Sesshomaru or Lavender, to see what would happen.

Saria choked back a few sobs, hoping to see breaths of life in her father. First, Lavender's hand twitched as she opened her eyes. Inuyasha supported her back as she sat up, and looked around to see everyone surrounding Sesshomaru with serious and grave looks on their faces.

"What's wrong? What's wrong with him?" Lavender quickly pushed Inuyasha aside, and crawled to Sesshomaru. She flung her arm around his neck, and with her other hand she gingerly touched the burnt marks above his heart.

The burnt area began to erode, revealing his flesh and bones. Even on Lavender's arm the burnt areas eroded away, and blood dripped from the exposed flesh on her arm. Everyone gasped when the eroding would not stop on Sesshomaru's chest. It kept going, until it reached his heart. Instead of having a blood red, fleshy heart, it was a glistening crystal, pumping blood through his body.

"His heart is working again... he's okay..." Lily gave a sigh of relief, happy to see that he was fine, despite the lack of chest.

"Since he's a full demon, he should heal quickly," Sango said, trying to lighten the mood.

Lavender suddenly panicked, she tried to place her hands above his exposed heart, but was afraid to touch him in such a state. "We can't let him know, if he does he'll come after us at full force! I don't want him to have it, it's mine, not his! He'll kill Sesshomaru for it!"

"Mama, it's too late, Hiro knows now..." Saria placed a hand on her mother's back, trying to comfort her. Lavender stopped fretting over Sesshomaru, and gazed at the crystal encasing his heart.

"I think... I think I should..." Lavender's eyes seemed to glaze over as her fingers slid along the smooth surface of Sesshomaru's beating, crystallized heart. "I think I want it back..."

"No!" Lily yanked her twin away from Sesshomaru's injured body, and pinned her to the ground. "_Not_ a good idea! Do you even remember why you gave it to him in the first place?"

"Huh?" Lavender blinked dazedly. "I... I forgot myself for a minute there, didn't I?"

Everyone was staring at Lavender with confused looks on their faces. Inu no Taisho however had full attention on his injured son. "We must find a place for him to heal."

"Yes, let's go..." Lily placed a hand on Inu no Taisho's shoulder, who then stood up.

"Climb on my back, and show me where to go," wind started swirling around Inu no Taisho, and blue ribbons of energy flew around him. His eyes flashed red, and his body glowed white as he began his transformation. When he was finished, he stood tall around his companions, and leaned down so everyone could climb on his back.

"We should go back to Kaede's village, it's probably the safest village," Kagome said, rubbing Rin's back trying to calm her down. She hadn't uttered a single noise since Lavender touched the crystal, so obviously she was upset.

Kirara flew ahead of Inu no Taisho, guiding him to the village. Ah-Un followed next to the great dog demon, with Jaken riding on his back.

Sango sat with Kohaku's head in her lap, and Miroku sat behind her, wanting ever so badly to touch her. Lily sat next to Kagome, with Saria sitting in her lap. Inuyasha was behind everyone lying on his father's back, with his hands behind his head, gazing at the sky. It was going to be night soon. Shippo sat on Inuyasha's stomach, also noting that it was almost dark.

Lavender had crawled to Sesshomaru's unconscious form, and settled herself on his left side, acting as a protector for his heart. Her arm was wrapped around his neck, and her other arm was encircling the outside of Sesshomaru's injury. She felt asleep thinking it was a too eventful day for her.

**A/N:** Did you guys know that 'bamboozle' is a real word? Annnnd... please review! (: C'mon now, I know you can't resist that adorable little face – (:


	9. He has a Castle?

**(I know author notes are easy to skip, but please read this one... at least the first paragraph anyways)**

**A/N: **I've been having a terrible, terrible case of writer's block lately. Truly _terrible_. Anyways, that's one reason why I'm so terribly late, another is that I simply don't feel like updating. I used to not care about reviews, I'd just look at my hits count to determine if my story is being read or not. It is, by many people. However, I only know the names of 5 of you. I'd really like it if everyone reviewed at least once, so I can at least put a name to my readers. It's a lot easier to update faster if I can actually say "Well, Bob has been a good reader to me, I should update for Bob's sake". It gives me some kind of connection to you guys, which makes it easier to write. I used to like to just watch my hits count jump, but the novelty is wearing thin. I'd rather write for a person other than a number.

I always make sure to reply at least once during a story. I'm a lazy person, like tons of other people out there, so that seemingly easy task of replying, isn't all that easy. It's sad, and it's true. I'm not the only one who thinks so either; otherwise every story would have tons of reviews.

To the 5 I know: this chapter is dedicated to you guys.

One more thing: I have gone through the first chapters, and at the bottom I wrote a little note (says 'fixed' in capital letters, you can't miss it). If it has that note at the end, it means the chapter is better than before. They aren't big differences, but the story is better, and clearer. Re-read them if you're ever extremely and utterly bored and have nothing better to do in your life.

**Disclaimer: **Inuyasha does not belong to me.

**Chapter 9: He has a Castle?**

Lavender slowly drifted back into consciousness. She kept her eyes closed, still feeling quite drowsy from her little nap. She heard voices around her, talking about something, but she was too sleepy to know what it was, or who was talking.

"So, why _was_ Sesshomaru affected?"

"Well, that crystal on his heart, it's Lavender's. She controls it, and it belongs to her. But, she sort of gave it to him."

"How do you 'sort of' give something to someone?"

"Well, when she uses it, she gets horrible nightmares, so she wanted to get rid of it. She basically used Sesshomaru by giving it to him, but because he hadn't touched it, he can't use it. See? She gave it to him, but he doesn't actually get to use it."

"I understand, Sesshomaru is unable to use it because it is attached to his heart, where he can't reach it."

"Yeah."

There was a short pause.

"She went really strange when she saw Sesshomaru's chest was open..."

"She's over-protective of the crystal, way too protective. She cares a ton about Sesshomaru, otherwise she wouldn't have been so careful to keep Sesshomaru from using it, but she freaks out at even the slightest mention of the crystal being jeopardized... Sometimes I think the crystal possesses her, and that's why she's like that."

Once again, there were a few moments of silence.

"What is it? The crystal?"

"It's... well... a crystallized form of Cassandra's heart."

"What? How's that possible?"

"Wait, isn't that kind of like the Shikon no Tama? The sacred jewel is basically Midoriko's heart, so it's possible that Cassandra did something very similar to how the Shikon no Tama was created."

"Cassandra was different, I'm sure. Midoriko was like a saint, right? Well Cassandra would be about the opposite of that. See, Lavender had horrible nightmares because of the Crystalline Heart, and they're about Cassandra. From what I hear, she valued her existence over anything in the world. Cassandra probably created the Crystalline Heart in order to exist on Earth forever. The strange thing is that Cassandra should have been sealed away in the Sun, not have her heart crystallized."

"Perhaps something had happened while she was sealed."

"Maybe... I have to do some research..."

They continued the ride on Inu no Taisho's back in silence; everyone was either shocked by what had happened to their travel companions, or deep in contemplation.

Lavender squeezed Sesshomaru in her arms, and fell back asleep, bound to forget everything she heard in the morning.

------

Lavender's eyes opened up slowly, revealing a dimly lit room with wooden walls, and a wooden floor. She was tangled up in a thin woollen blanket, and her pillow was lying feet away because of her fitful sleep. Lavender rubbed her eyes, and felt her face sticky and slightly wet. _I must've been crying..._ she thought as she tried to remember what she dreamt of. Suddenly, she became aware that there were other people in the room with her.

By the door, a small figure was sleeping peacefully with a serene look on his face. Kohaku was clearly unaware of where he was, and simply resting. Then she noticed someone else.

She quickly looked to her right to see Sesshomaru sitting in the corner leaning against the wall, and watching Lavender intently. Lavender's eyes watered up as she remembered what her dream was about. In her mind, she saw Sesshomaru's body being ripped apart by shadowy figures trying to get a hold of his heart. She tried to run to him in her dream, but she found herself being pulled back, not being able to do a thing to save him. It frightened her so much, she cried in her sleep.

Slowly, Lavender crawled to Sesshomaru, starring at his opened chest. It looked much better than before; she couldn't even see his heart anymore, or his ribs. He only needed to heal his flesh to close the wound, and he'd be as good as new. However it did not look like he was trying very hard, as there were bloody bandages and cloths lying on the floor around him as if they were thrown to the ground haphazardly.

Lavender's tears started running down her cheeks, and she placed a shaking hand on Sesshomaru's knee. He did not need to ask why she was crying: she was probably still affected by her dream. He could hear her mumble such things as "don't hurt him" and "my Sesshomaru" while she slept. _Since when did I belong to her? _He thought every time she muttered those two words together, but strangely enough it didn't bother him.

When Lavender was closer to the demon lord, she moved her shaking hand to his cheek, caressing it, and making sure he was actually sitting there, staring at her, completely alive and awake.

"It's too late..." she mumbled sadly, with a dark look in her eyes. "He's gonna come after you now... relentlessly... now you'll constantly be in danger..."

"Humph," Sesshomaru upturned his nose. "This Sesshomaru can defeat any foe."

"Heh..." she laughed weakly. "It's been a while since you spoke like that... it must be when you're feeling full of yourself that you say it..."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow, not exactly sure what she was talking about.

"But seriously, you need to be so careful..." her hand trailed over to his left chest, and let it hover above his wound. "I was so scared..." she whispered to herself.

Sesshomaru grasped her hand, and held it in his on his lap. Lavender collapsed on his chest, resting her cheek in the crook of his neck, and placed little kisses wherever her lips would reach his flesh. She let her tears fall freely and silently on Sesshomaru.

After several minutes, Lavender finally lifted her face to look at Sesshomaru after her tears dried. She was biting her bottom lip, making it red and puffy, and had a sad frown on her face. She wanted Sesshomaru to be the first to say something when they were both so close and together in such an intimate moment, or better yet, be the one to lean in for the kiss she wanted so badly.

Sesshomaru studied Lavender's face, and felt his heart soften. She was actually pretty with that frown on her face, and her lip bright red and swollen. Her lashes were thick and sticky because of her tears, and her eyes were sparkling. He gazed deeply into her brown eyes, and moved his hand to her face. With his index finger and thumb, he tugged on Lavender's bottom lip.

"You should stop that, or you might make yourself bleed."

Lavender's lips slowly formed a little grin, and leaned forward with her nose almost touching his. Sesshomaru closed the distance between their lips, and kissed her softly while caressing her cheek. Lavender's little smile grew into a large grin, happy that he made the first move. Sesshomaru felt her lips form the grin, and pulled back to give her a questioning look.

"What?" Lavender turned to the side to avoid his gaze, afraid that she'd start laughing because she was so excited. Then her eyes met Sesshomaru's wound, and the happy feeling gave way to being gloomy once again. She got up and muttered, "be right back", and left the little hut they were sitting in.

Lavender looked around, and saw everyone huddled around a small cooking fire, eating their lunch. She was so intent on finding what she needed, she nearly tripped over Inu no Taisho who was sitting right next to the door.

"Oh! Captain, good morning!" Lavender smiled and waved, and everyone noticed her presence.

"You're finally up," Lily pointed to the pot in the centre of the group. "Grab some Ramen before Inuyasha eats it all. He's like a machine."

Inuyasha looked up from his cup with strings of noodles hanging out of his mouth, and glared at Lily.

"No, I need to find some water and cloth for Sesshomaru," she replied, and started walking around the little campfire, not exactly knowing where she was going.

"Here mama," Saria jumped up, and dug through Lily's backpack to find the medical supplies.

"He's gonna let you treat him?"

"What?" Lavender was watching Saria as she pulled out a few small rags, and a small water bottle.

"He's gonna let you treat him?" Lily raised an eyebrow. _She's certainly out of it this afternoon..._

"Huh?" this time Lavender turned to Lily with a confused look. "Why wouldn't he?"

Kagome let out a nervous laugh, while rubbing her right, bandaged wrist. Lavender noticed the bandage, and quickly interrogated her.

"Kagome! What happened? Is that a cut? Can I see? Who did that to you?"

"Sesshomaru, that's who," Inuyasha quickly went into a protective mode, and stood in front of Kagome. "She was trying to help my stupid bastard brother and he hit her!"

"What?" Lavender quickly turned to Kagome, expecting her to say he's lying.

"Well..." Kagome said nervously. She didn't want Lavender to get angry with Sesshomaru, because it was honestly a big mistake and misunderstanding. "Sesshomaru was still sleeping and... he suddenly woke up and startled me, and I fell backwards and cut myself." Kagome cleared her throat nervously, and looked in the other direction, avoiding Lavender's gaze.

"Are you joking? He basically threw you half-way across the room!"

"WHAT!" Lavender dropped the water bottle and rags in her hands, and starred incredulously at Lily. "Tell me _exactly_ what happened! From the very beginning!" She was the only person Lavender knew wouldn't simmer down the truth, or exaggerate it.

"Well..."

------

_Under the dark, starlit night, Inuyasha reluctantly carried Sesshomaru into the little hut Kaede provided for them. Inu no Taisho would have done it, but he didn't exactly want to transform back into his humanoid state, and let Sesshomaru fall off him. Inuyasha watched Miroku with calculating eyes, making sure he wouldn't touch Lavender, who he was carrying, inappropriately. Kagome held open the entrance flap, letting Sango walk in carrying Kohaku, then Miroku and Inuyasha._

_Sango settled down with her brother at the wall closest to the door on the right. She stayed silent as she sadly inspected him for any serious wounds. Inuyasha half-heartedly set Sesshomaru on the ground, on the other side of the door. He would have dropped the demon if their father wasn't watching him. He decided his dear old father went through enough, having to see his son's heart exposed and all. When Miroku carefully set Lavender down across from the entrance, he turned to join Sango. Lily immediately began cleaning her sister's arm, and stitching up the wound._

_Since it was such a small hut, Shippo, Saria, Rin, and Ah-Un, were all forced to wait outside. Left alone to worry about their loved ones because they'd get in the way of the treating process. In Jaken's case, they simply kicked him out for being too loud, and too obnoxious._

_Inuyasha sat between Kohaku and Lavender, keeping an eye on both. Lavender, to him, was more important, but he still wanted to keep an eye on Kohaku hopeful to see if there were any signs of his memory possibly coming back to him. And to make sure Naraku wasn't controlling him still._

_Sesshomaru was left with no one to take care of him, but his father. Inu no Taisho however, was not doing much to help. He knew his son would be okay. He could tell when he checked up on him as soon as Inuyasha set Sesshomaru down: the wound had already started to close due to his demonic healing. Inu no Taisho was also aware of how much Sesshomaru hated to be helped, and how much he hated being seen in helpless situations such as this. For his son's pride, Inu no Taisho turned away, and checked on Lavender with Lily._

_Kagome, being the kind, softhearted soul, felt that Sesshomaru should not be left alone to heal on his own. So, she dunked a cloth in the bucket of water placed in the centre of the hut for cleaning purposes, and gently began scrubbing away the dried blood around Sesshomaru's injury._

_Inuyasha saw what she was doing, and went to sit next to Kagome. "Y'know... he's not gonna appreciate that." he pointed out._

"_That's not the point," Kagome tossed the cloth back into the bucket when she was finished, and pulled out a roll of white bandage to wrap around his chest. "He'll heal quicker, and better, if someone treats him."_

"_Why should you care? He's a cold-hearted bastard, he doesn't deserve it."_

_Kagome ignored him, and tried to lift Sesshomaru's back to get the bandage around him. She strained to pull him off the ground, but he would only budge a few inches. Kagome set him back down, knowing there was no way she could do it without help. "Inuyasha, could you please lift Sesshomaru's shoulders?" Kagome batted her eyelashes sweetly, to better persuade Inuyasha._

"_What? There's no way I'm helping him!" Inuyasha turned his head away in an irritated manner, and crossed his arms defiantly._

"_Pleeease, Inuyasha!" Kagome tilted her head to the side to get a better look at Inuyasha's face. "It's for me, not Sesshomaru."_

_Inuyasha gave her a calculating look, and huffed. He moved closer to Sesshomaru, and lifted his shoulders. "I already had to carry him in here, so I might as well help you out while his dirty scent is still on me." Kagome smiled as he held Sesshomaru up, trying to keep his body as far away from his brother as possible._

"_Thanks Inuyasha," Kagome started wrapping the bandage around her patient's chest. When Kagome finished bandaging him, Inuyasha set Sesshomaru down, and turned his back on his brother as if looking at him made his stomach churn._

_Kagome leaned over to pull the bandage tight, stirring Sesshomaru awake from his slumber. Because Inuyasha's back was turned, he did not noticed as Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open, tainted red in demonic fury after noticing there was a human hovering above him._

_Sesshomaru let out a menacing growl, and in an instant he sat up, and powerfully shoved Kagome away from him, sending her flying halfway across the hut. She held out her right hand to try and stop, and she skid across the floor, scraping her wrist._

_Inuyasha instantly shoved Sesshomaru against the wall, yelling at him for hurting Kagome, but Sesshomaru simply did the same to Inuyasha as he did to Kagome. Inuyasha of course landed much better than the priestess. Sesshomaru immediately began shredding the bandages off his chest, and tossed them to the ground rebelliously. His wound re-opened due to the sudden movement, and his careless shredding of Kagome's work._

_Inu no Taisho silently cursed himself for not noticing them by Sesshomaru, and Miroku and Sango helped Kagome off the ground. Lily quickly stood up to calm Sesshomaru down, but Inu no Taisho held her back._

"_YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Inuyasha whipped out his Tetsusaiga like some kind of maniac, and charged at Sesshomaru. With his other hand, Inu no Taisho stopped his youngest son and pulled him away from Sesshomaru. "Let go!" Inuyasha hissed, he only wanted to cause Sesshomaru harm._

_Inu no Taisho dragged Inuyasha's struggling body outside of the hut by the arm. "It will make things easier if you wait outside," he said calmly. Inu no Taisho politely asked the rest of the group to follow Inuyasha, and leave the hut (Sango was reluctant at first, but the deathly, red-eyed glare Sesshomaru was sending everyone, and the calm, healthy look on her brother's sleeping face convinced her to follow). He gave Sesshomaru a pleading look, and was the last to exit through the door flaps. They spent the night outside under the stars, leaving Sesshomaru, Lavender, and Kohaku in the hut._

_-End of Flashback-_

Lily finished giving Lavender a more shortened version of the story, and Lavender was seeing red. It was not pleasing to know that her Sesshomaru had injured an ally while she was trying to tend to his needs.

Without a word, Lavender, with rags and water bottle in each hand, stormed angrily back into the hut. She quickly knelt on the ground next to Sesshomaru's sitting form, and poured some water onto one of her rags.

Sesshomaru could feel the anger radiating off her like a fire, and was not entirely sure how to react to it. Should he stay quiet, or explain about how he felt too vulnerable and humiliated to be seen in such a state, and was simply acting out on instinct? Before he could make his decision however, Lavender spoke up.

"Why would you hurt Kagome? Huh? What did she do to you?" Lavender questioned him as she roughly scrubbed his already raw skin clean, to the point of irritation, from the dried blood and dirt. Sesshomaru winced slightly in surprise. He hadn't expected her to scrub so hard...

"I have no need to explain myself," he said simply, and turned to face the other direction angrily. She immediately took Kagome's side over the matter, and Sesshomaru did not wish to deal with someone who could not see the situation neutrally. She could at least consider his side of the story before picking sides.

Lavender stopped scrubbing, and with her eyebrows slightly raised she gave Sesshomaru a curious look. She had originally planned to "teach" Sesshomaru a lesson about respect, but all thoughts vanished as a new one arose. Sesshomaru was letting her treat him, but he wouldn't let anyone else.

"Why are you letting me help you?"

Sesshomaru turned to look at her. He did not exactly know the answer to her question, so he had to take a moment to think about it. After a few moments of Lavender waiting patiently, he answered. "The danger has passed, thus there is no reason to be defensive."

"Oh... That's it, huh?" Lavender gave Sesshomaru a sceptical look, however in her head she was not so unbelieving. _Now why didn't I see that coming? If I were anyone else, he wouldn't care..._ "Not because, oh I don't know, maybe I'm someone you know would never think less of you, or take advantage of you, or that you know I'd take good care of you?" As she was speaking, she made sure to sound like she was being sarcastic, however she wasn't lying. She was simply hoping that maybe he would take into consideration the fact that all the points she gave were true.

Before Sesshomaru had a chance to give some kind of reply, which he did not actually have, Kohaku began to stir awake, drawing Lavender's attention away. She quickly put aside their conversation, intending to continue it later, and turned her attention to the poor child who had to endure Saria's wrath. "Hey there, how're ya feeling?"

Lavender quickly scooted towards the young slayer, and leaned over him. He looked at her with a confused and tired look, not exactly remembering who she was right away. After a few moments of squinting at her, he recognised her as the woman who showed up to check on Rin. "Oh, uh, hello."

"Hi... you okay?"

"Er, yeah... yes, I am."

Lavender smiled at him, and sat back on her heels to give Kohaku some room. He rubbed his forehead, and his eyes to clear away some of the sleepiness. When he was finished, he became fully aware of Sesshomaru sitting in the far corner, glaring at him with emotionless eyes. Kohaku stiffened up, and looked away uncomfortably.

At that moment, Sango –along with Kirara- burst through the doorway, and quickly ran to Kohaku's side, crushing him in a strong embrace. "Kohaku! You're awake! That's wonderful..." Sango smiled happily as she held her darling little brother in her arms.

Inuyasha, Miroku, Kagome, and Shippo all peered through the doorway wanting to see Kohaku, but at the same time wanting to give him and Sango some room. Lavender noticed the privacy the others were trying to give Sango, and decided that then was a good time to leave. She stood up, and walked towards Sesshomaru, who was still sitting against the wall with a glare in his eyes.

"C'mon, you... and be careful," Lavender said as she lightly tugged on Sesshomaru's arm. "Let's get some fresh air, shall we?"

Sesshomaru let Lavender help him up to his feet, trying not to move too suddenly and tear some skin, and walked next to her towards the exit. Lavender picked Sesshomaru's inner haori off the hut floor, knowing that he probably would not be happy walking around top-less. The four standing at the doorway stepped aside to let them out, and as they walked by Inuyasha gave Sesshomaru a dirty look. He was still angry about what happened with Kagome.

Rin and Jaken greeted their lord enthusiastically, and Sesshomaru nodded at them, silently acknowledging their presence. To his dismay, Rin smiled happily (Sesshomaru, feeling paranoid, thought for a brief moment that she was mocking him) when Lavender helped Sesshomaru into his shirt.

Lavender finished, and lightly tugged on Sesshomaru's empty sleeve, pulling him towards a spot next to Lily. She sat down, and silently told Sesshomaru to do the same by pulling hard on his sleeve. He sat down, and Lavender nudged closer to him, leaning into his body.

Lily raised an eyebrow at her sister, and more so at Sesshomaru. He did not seem like himself at the moment. _Since when does Sesshomaru let himself be steered around by a human woman, and then let her sit so close to him?_ Lily smirked once she found the answer. _He's going back to the way he was before: Lavender's darling sweetheart! But this time it looks as though they're going public..._ The twin glanced at Inu no Taisho still sitting next to the hut door, who had a rather humorous look on his face. It was a mixture confusedness and happiness. His mouth was open in a mystified smile, and had an eyebrow risen. It made him happy to see that Sesshomaru was actually capable of getting close to someone, but at the same time Inu no Taisho always knew his son as someone who would rather die than let a human touch him.

Sesshomaru on the other hand had a blank look. He was wrapped up on how he could possible kill Kohaku without Inuyasha, Lavender, Lily, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, his father, his daughter, Shippo, and Rin all getting in his way. He had to admit, with the combined forces of eleven people, and four of whom he had no intentions of harming, Sesshomaru would have a difficult task on his hands. If he hadn't been so tired and wounded, not to mention honourable, he would have killed Kohaku in his sleep.

In his thoughtful state, Sesshomaru did not mind having Lavender guide him around like some lost puppy. He also did not mind having her so close to him, specifically after spending the whole night alone, watching Lavender thrash about because of her nightmares, unable to help and comfort her. He felt that he was helping her now. Sesshomaru could tell simply by looking through the corner of his eye, where he could see Lavender's bright, radiant smile as she looked at him with cheerful eyes. Why did he want to help her, or comfort her? Who knows? Even if the demon lord was thinking about "why" instead of "how to get around the eleven people so I can kill Kohaku", he still would not know the answer.

Lavender loved the fact that Sesshomaru was not pushing her aside. The very fact that Sesshomaru was letting her sit so close to him, nearly cuddling him, meant that he could still harvest feelings for her, similar to the love she felt for him. Lavender wanted to rest her cheek on his shoulder, and place her hand on his lap, but she felt that might be pushing it a little too far. People often believe Lavender is a pushy person, but she can contain herself when she needed to.

Rin watched Sesshomaru intently. She was thinking very hard about something in particular. Not the way he was watching the entrance to the hut, or the way he let Lavender lean against him. She was thinking about how she would ask Sesshomaru not to kill Kohaku. She knew that was his plan, he was not going to let Kohaku get away from him. Sesshomaru wanted to get Kohaku when he was not under Naraku's control, and when it was not convenient to the evil hanyou. Rin, feeling worried and not sure of what to do, sat alone a few feet away from Sesshomaru. She pulled up her knees, and rested her chin on them. Her face held a frown as she thought about how she could stop Sesshomaru.

Lavender noticed Rin's lonely state, and elbowed Sesshomaru in the ribs to get his attention. When he turned his head to look at Lavender, she silently pointed at Rin with a confused look. Sesshomaru saw Rin's state, and instantly knew what she was thinking. Lavender took the initiative to cheer her up.

"Rin! Hey Rin!" she called out to the young girl. Rin looked up quickly, startled out of her thoughts. "Come sit with us!"

Rin stood up slowly and walked to Lavender. When she was within arms length, Lavender pulled Rin onto her lap by the waist. She propped the young girl on her leg facing Lily.

"What're you thinking about that's got you all worried?" Lavender asked kindly, and very mother-like.

Rin looked down at her feet, too shy to explain herself in front of Sesshomaru. She felt that she should either tell him alone and in person, or not at all.

"You can tell us, Rin," Lily said with an encouraging smile. She brushed the child's bangs aside, and lifted her chin. "Maybe we can make it better."

Rin simply continued to frown, but out of concentration. It would be better to tell Sesshomaru personally, rather than let him over hear their conversation. So, Rin quickly turned around, and blurted out what she wanted to say.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin took a deep breath, readying herself for her long explanation. "I know you do not like Kohaku, and you plan to kill him, but please don't! He really is kind, and that day when he tried to hurt me he wasn't himself! Before that we talked and he wasn't anything like you saw when you came to rescue me! Please Sesshomaru-sama, I do not want Kohaku to die and I know we can trust him if we just help him from-"

"Rin, stop talking."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama." Rin shyly looked at Sesshomaru, who was watching her with an expressionless face.

He thought for a moment. Sesshomaru knew that was what was bothering her, but he was not prepared to answer her. He finally came to a conclusion. "The boy follows Naraku's orders. If it is Naraku's wish that he is disposed of, this Sesshomaru will not comply." _The boy can live... just a little longer._

The twins both looked at Sesshomaru with identical proud smiles, and Rin beamed up at her lord. She knew him well enough to know that Sesshomaru never says exactly what he is thinking. What Sesshomaru had just said could be translated as "I wont kill him... unless he gives me a good reason to."

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama." Rin smiled brightly, and was thinking about giving her lord a hug, when the four standing at the door suddenly departed. They let Sango, Kohaku, and Kirara out of the hut, interrupting Rin's thoughts of a hug.

"How're you feeling, Kohaku?" Kagome asked kindly, bending down slightly to see Kohaku at eye-level.

"I-I'm fine, thank you," he replied shyly. It was strange to see so many people worried about him, even though he did not know or recognise them. The only person he recognized was Sango.

Everyone made his or her greetings to the young slayer. Saria still felt that Kohaku was untrustworthy, but because she understood the situation a little better, she found it slightly easier to be kind. After saying hello, she quickly retreated to sit next to her father, who was sitting alone as both the twins and Rin had quickly ran up to meet Kohaku when he emerged from the hut.

Sango was happy to see that everyone else was trying to make Kohaku feel welcome, despite all the trouble he had caused. She felt like crying, there was nothing she could do to repay her friends. They were too good to her and her last living relative. The emotions welled up inside her, and she wanted to cry to release the pressure. But she held back the tears, not wanting to ruin to moment by making everyone worry. She was happy, happy because Kohaku was with her, and Naraku had not yet tried to take control of him, or take him away. He could stay with her, forever. However, they would not become completely happy without accomplishing one last goal. Curing Kohaku.

Kagome watched her friend closely, her best friend. Sango had a pensive look on her face, and Kagome instantly realized what she was thinking. She was thinking of the cure. Kagome quickly took action, and tugged Lily aside and away from the group.

"What is it, Kagome?" Lily asked curiously.

"Well," Kagome's voice was a low whisper. She felt like she would be pressuring Lily, and did not want to come on too strong. But, the question needed to be asked soon. "I was wondering about Kohaku... um, I was just wondering if you, er, found a cure for him yet..."

Lily smiled cheerfully, and looked over her shoulder at Inu no Taisho. He smiled back with a nod, and Lily turned her attention to Kagome once again. "As a matter of fact, we did. The Captain stayed up with me all night and helped look through the books."

Kagome's smile brightened, and she quickly pulled Lily into an embrace. "That's wonderful! When do you think you can cure him?"

"Anytime! Now, if Sango wants."

"You stayed up all night... for Kohaku?" Sango had listened to the short conversation, and once again felt as thought she might cry any second. Her friends, even the ones she just recently met, all did so much for her. Which included forgoing their sleep, and putting up with her silly behaviour in the past.

"Not _just_ for Kohaku, silly!" Lily laughed lightly, as though Sango just asked a silly, obvious question. "It's for you too, and everyone else that wants to see him better again."

Sango abruptly turned around, and began rubbing her eyes. "Oh, uh... I seem to have gotten something stuck in my eye!"

Lily and Kagome shared knowing looks, and tapped Sango's shoulder. "I'll get Lavender, and we'll start the spell," Lily said with a soothing voice. Sango nodded her head, still adverting her face from her two friends.

Lily walked away to get her twin's attention, and the two walked to sit by a tree to discuss the procedure. As they spoke under the tree, Sango watched them apprehensively.

"What has you worried, Sango?" Miroku noticed the anxious look on her face, and decided to use his charm to calm her a little.

"They're going to try and cure Kohaku, but I don't know what will happen when he gets his memories back..."

"Don't worry, we can help Kohaku through any trouble that comes his way."

Sango beamed at Miroku, and her smile widened when he did not try to grope her.

------

"What do we do first, Lil?"

"Well..." Lily pulled her spell book onto her lap, and flipped through the pages. She explained the plan to Lavender as she looked for the correct page. "The Jewel Shard in Kohaku's back is keeping him alive, so first we have to heal him enough that the shard isn't needed anymore. The shard healed over his flesh, but not the inside. Then after that, I can bring back his memories."

Lily found the page, and showed Lavender the spell.

"This is in the advanced book," said Lavender, somewhat worried. "There's no way I can help you with advance spells. I can help with novice ones, but not intermediate or advanced..."

"I need you for support. I usually wouldn't, but who knows how long Kohaku has been injured for, he could be horribly infected. That's why it's such an advanced spell. It'll take up a lot of my mana, so I need you to channel your magic to me, so I don't get too tired."

"Okay..." Lavender nodded her head in understanding and determination. "How do I do that, anyway?"

"Stand to my right, and meditate. In fact, I think you should practise now..."

"What do I meditate about?"

Lily gave her sister a hard look, _she'd better not mess this up..._ "You meditate about giving me your mana... you'll feel weak, but just ignore it, your power will come back after a quick rest."

"How weak, and what's 'a quick rest'?"

"You channel your magic into your physical being, therefore your whole body will start to feel weak. Depending on how much mana I need, you might not even be able to stand... And a quick rest would be maybe an hour or so..."

"Okay, got'cha... I'll go practise a little," Lavender said to Lily, slightly nervous, and walked away from the group. She needed a little more privacy and silence if she was going to do some meditating.

_Meditate?_ Lavender thought as she tried to clear her mind, while sitting out in the middle of a vegetable patch. Villagers passing by would stop for a few moments to watch. _I can't meditate... I can't just concentrate on one thing! I think there's a bug touching me... why did I choose to sit in a garden, anyway? It is kind of comfortable... I wonder what they're growing... I don't think I've ever planted something in my life. When this is all over I'm going to start a garden. And I'll plant tons of lavenders and lilies, and... I wonder how expensive flowers are. I should plant a tree!_

Lavender's meditation was going horribly wrong, and even her face showed signs of distraction. Her expressions went from irritation, disgust, bewilderment, thoughtfulness, excitement, concentration, and back to excitement.

By the fence of the vegetable patch, Sesshomaru watched this display of emotions flickering on Lavender's face, and fought back the urge to roll his eyes. He crossed the garden, and sat so he was back to back with Lavender. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she did not notice Sesshomaru until the silky material of his haori brushed up against her bare arm.

"Sesshomaru!" Lavender happily leaned all of her weight back, against Sesshomaru. "Have you come to keep me company?"

Sesshomaru, once again, did not have an answer to her question. From what he could remember, he could no longer stand watching the group of people fussing over Kohaku, and immediately sought out Lavender when she left.

"I'll take that as a yes," Lavender said cheerfully.

_That woman is always putting words into my mouth,_ Sesshomaru thought resentfully.

Lavender once again, tried to clear her mind, and concentrate on helping her sister. But of course, to no avail. Now she was thinking about Sesshomaru.

"Hey... can you help me out?"

Sesshomaru did not reply, but as usual Lavender correctly translated his lack of response as a 'yes'.

"I'm no good at meditating... I need to learn, to help out Lil. I don't wanna let her down." Lavender sullenly looked down at the soft soil.

"Relax."

"Relax, eh?" Lavender did the one think that she knew could relax her. She completely leaned her body against Sesshomaru, and tilted her head back. To her, it felt like she was resting on a vertical, warm mattress (although, less cushiony). Her eyes were shut leisurely, and she relaxed a little.

"Okay, I'm relaxed. Now what?"

"Take deep breaths." Sesshomaru could then feel Lavender's body heave slowly, and then sink back to its original position. She continued to do so, and found that resting against Sesshomaru, and breathing deeply, was indeed very relaxing...

------

"What's taking Lavender so long?" Inuyasha whined from the tree branch he was sitting in.

Everyone had already settled down, and gave Kohaku some room to breathe. Kohaku was given some Ramen, and was told about how he would be cured. The concept was very confusing at first, but then he realized what would happen to him. He knew there was something wrong with him. He could always hear Naraku's voice in his head, and often times he would black out and find himself in strange or disturbing places. Plus there was Sango. Kohaku just knew that he knew her from somewhere, but where he did not know. At the same time, he did not want to know. For some reason, the prospect of getting all of his memories back frightened him. But for Sango's sake, he'd do it. It was very obvious she's an important person in his life, otherwise she would not be sitting so close to him at the moment.

Sango's arm was protectively wrapped around Kohaku's shoulders, like any loving sister would do if she was finally reunited with her little brother.

Miroku sat next to her, and could feel the happiness radiating off her like heat. It made him very happy to know that Sango was content.

Rin was next to Kohaku, her friend. She was happy when Kohaku asked how she was feeling and if she was hurt from earlier. She was happy because despite being knocked out by Saria, he still remembered the cuts and bruises she received when being blown into the forest.

Saria was the only one who was not in some way happy. Before Inuyasha joined her to keep her company, she had fled to the tree branch once her father left to see her mother. Saria felt rather abandoned, but her uncle spotted her, and kept her company in the tree while everyone talked.

"Saria, you wanna go get your mom for us?" Lily asked politely.

"Sure." One word. For some reason, Saria still did not like Kohaku. Perhaps it was they way her father regarded the young slayer; to her it was like an affirmation that he was too untrustworthy. Or maybe it was the looming threat of Naraku possessing him. Either way, Saria still wanted to leave the company of Kohaku, and go for a walk.

"I'll go too." Inuyasha noticed Saria's strange behaviour, and felt as though she could use some company.

They walked in silence along the path until the group was left out of earshot.

"What's up with you?" He asked the child next to him. He was not exactly polite, but he was not rude either. He felt that being polite did not fit his personality, but being that she was his niece, and Lavender's daughter, she deserved more respect.

"Why do you trust Kohaku?" Saria didn't miss a beat in asking the question. It was something that was bugging her. _Everyone_, save her father and Jaken, trusted him.

"Well..." Inuyasha was slightly taken aback by the question. He did not exactly _trust_ Kohaku. He did, however, trust that when Kohaku is cured, he would most definitely be a trustworthy person. Inuyasha simply found Kohaku unpredictable, so he was still a little cautious around the boy. "Look, when Kohaku goes back to being normal, there wont be any problems. Right now, I'll admit, Kohaku is a little dangerous, but that's only because no one knows when Naraku will decide to give him orders."

Saria dropped the subject. So, it could just be that, she doesn't trust Naraku. Saria always did have a knack for seeing more than other people do. Like seeing how dangerous and frightening Naraku was at the spring, but when he was fighting Sesshomaru Naraku wasn't at all frightening. Well, that Naraku was simply a puppet, but Saria knew he was not dangerous before finding out that bit of news.

The two came across the vegetable garden and spotted two figures sitting in the middle. Lavender was lying against Sesshomaru, her head was tilted to the side slightly, and her eyes were shut in quiet content. Sesshomaru was staring off into the distance; facing the opposite direction of the fence Inuyasha and Saria were standing at.

Saria smiled brightly at her parents. For as long as she could remember, her mother always thought about Sesshomaru, and regarded him very highly. All Lavender really wanted in life was to be with him. Inuyasha instead screwed up his face in disgust. To him, seeing Lavender, a highly respected mother figure in his life, so close and intimate with Sesshomaru was enough to make his stomach curl.

Sesshomaru noticed the presence of his daughter and half brother, and immediately felt slightly... foolish. He was sitting in the middle of a vegetable garden, in the dirt, with a human. He stood up quickly and gracefully, catching Lavender by surprise who also stood up lethargically, thinking something was wrong.

"Huh?" Lavender's eyes darted around the area. "Who go there?"

Sesshomaru began walking out from the garden, mindfully avoiding the area Inuyasha was standing. Lavender followed him like a lost puppy.

"Oh! Little Guy!" Lavender lazily heaved herself over the fence, and wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's waist. "I was practising my meditation, and I think I fell asleep..." She let out a stifled yawn, and let go of Inuyasha.

"Lily wants you back at the hut, she asked me and Saria to come get you."

"Oh? Where is she?"

Sure enough, Saria was gone, and so was Sesshomaru. They spotted the two walking up the path to the hut without them.

"Oh..." Lavender narrowed her eyes at Sesshomaru's back. "He just totally kidnapped my daughter."

Inuyasha lightly tugged on Lavender's arm to get her to follow him back to the group.

------

Everyone was set in a semi-circle. Kohaku was in the middle, and Sango (with Kirara sitting snugly in her lap) sat directly behind him, in the middle of the semi-circle, as moral support. Miroku sat to her left, and Kagome to her right, both helping Sango. Shippo sat next to Miroku with Inu no Taisho on his other side, and Rin beside Kagome. Ah-Un even decided to be a part of the group, and rested beside Rin. Lily was in front of Kohaku, smiling brightly to comfort him.

When Saria and Sesshomaru joined the group, they both sat away from the semi-circle, watching. As Inuyasha arrived, he sat next to his father, and Lavender sat to the right of Lily.

The tension was very thick: no one knew what would happen to Kohaku.

"Alright then... Kohaku," Lily addressed the young slayer kindly, in the same way she would speak to Saria if she had just had a nightmare. "I want you to lie down on your stomach, and close your eyes. Just relax, okay? And try not to move." Kohaku obeyed, and lied down on his side, then rolled on to his front.

Lily looked at her sister who had already seated herself in a comfy position. Her legs were crossed, and her hands were resting on her ankles. She locked her elbows in so that she could lean forward on her shoulders without actually falling off balance.

"Okay..." Lily was knelling over Kohaku, and she placed her hands above his back where the Sacred Jewel was located. There was no way Lily could purify it, so she spoke to Kagome before hand and told her to be ready in case she needed her to take the shard.

There was no need to chant out loud for the spell, because if she did, she would lose too much concentration on actually forming the words. Instead, she did exactly what the book told her to do. She must magically enter his body, and manually patch up his injured area. It required much concentration, and plenty of magic (magic Lily was not sure she had enough of).

Lily closed her eyes tightly, and stood completely still letting her hands hover above Kohaku. Lavender was beside her, concentrating. Surprisingly enough, she was doing quite well. Perhaps it was the mere seriousness in the air: she couldn't afford to goof off.

Suddenly, a dim green glow appeared on Kohaku's back in the shape of a circle. From the correct angle, which was seen by a view directly perpendicular to the green circle, one could see the bones, veins, and organs of the young slayer. It was as if looking at an X-Ray print, hover it included more details, rather than just the skeleton.

Lily opened her eyes, and went to work. According to the spell book, that particular healing spell left the specific area (indicated by the dim green glow) very malleable, like clay. The healer had to then mould the bones, and any other injured area, back to its normal state. It was, in a way, an artist's job. Lily would need plenty of time to heal Kohaku properly, she was not a wonderful artist and it could take her awhile to get everything right. The more time needed, the more mana needed. That was why Lavender was there.

Lily was able to let her hands pass through Kohaku's back, where she gently moulded his broken bones together. There were signs of decay in his flesh, and with a touch more magic concentrated at the spot, Lily could solidify it and pull it out. Lavender would feel sudden pangs of tiredness when Lily would do such a thing.

Five minutes passed by. Lily's knees began to get sore from the strain her body was putting on them. A few times, Lily would notice little splinters of bone, or signs of infection at the rim of the circle, then she would have to open the circle even wider to investigate. She had been told that Kohaku was hit by arrows, but she was not told how many. Judging by the number of times she had to widen the circle, one could tell that he had indeed been shot with many arrows.

Lily began sweating slightly. It had been a whole fifteen minutes. She could feel that Lavender had next to no mana left. She could tell because every time she had to use a little more of her magic, the mana she received from her sister was less and less. Lily felt as though her time was running out.

Finally, after just a few more minutes, Lily felt satisfied enough with her work, that she pulled her hands out of Kohaku's back, and motioned for Kagome to come to her. She did so, nervously. Lily took hold of Kagome's wrist, and let her magic pool out over hers and Kagome's hands. Then, Lily directed Kagome towards the Jewel shard, let her grasp it, and pulled out. As soon as the Jewel was free from Kohaku's body, Lavender collapsed, and the dim green glow disappeared.

Kagome held the Jewel fragment tightly in her hand, and prayed. The tainted Jewel then became pure once again.

Lily, being rather tired, simply smiled up at Kagome, and sat back on her heels.

Kohaku opened his eyes, and sat up. He glanced at the Sacred Jewel shard in Kagome's hands, but his attention was diverted to the woman crushing him in a strong, loving hug.

"Kohaku! The Jewel shard is out, and you're okay!" Sango no longer bothered to stop her tears, and let them fall freely all over her brother. He was perfectly fine; Naraku no longer had a hold on him.

"Uh, Lady Sango?"

Unfortunately, removing the Sacred Jewel did not bring back his memories.

Sango pulled back to look at Kohaku's confused face. To him, it was as though he always made her cry, and it confused him to no end.

Sango looked up desperately at Lily, who nodded, knowing what she was silently asking. With Kohaku still in his sister's arms, Lily placed each of her forefingers on the young slayer's temples. She had already memorized this spell. It was quite simple, all it was, was removing the barrier around Kohaku's mind that prevented him from remembering his past. She did not need Lavender's help for the job, so she let her sister lay quietly on the ground beside her.

Her eyes furrowed in concentration. It was if Lily was trying to find the shore in the dead of night, a misty fog engulfing her, out in the middle of the lake. There was no light to guide her. When Lily finally did find what she was looking for, her lips formed a smile. Sango also smiled, as did many of the others around them. But then, very suddenly, Lily felt as cold as ice, and very frightened and vulnerable. As soon as she mentally touched the barrier around Kohaku's memories, images began encircling her mind, playing like a movie.

She saw happy moments playing with Kirara out in a meadow... sitting with Sango on a deck of a house... a giant spider... a sudden image of everyone around her, dead... her hand holding the chain of her scythe, embedded in Sango's back... happy villagers congratulating her on protecting them... killing those very same villagers... Naraku's evil voice speaking to her in darkness...

Suddenly, the images stopped...

Lily found herself in Lavender's arms, and in front of her she saw Kohaku. He was screaming, and clutching his head.

"What happened?" Lavender had a very frightful look on her face, and she was clearly straining to sit up and hold her sister. She woke up with a start when Kohaku began screaming, and immediately tugged hard on her stunned sister to keep her safe.

"Well..." Lily was oddly calm, as though she was in a shock. "I think Kohaku's memories... are a little too wild to set free just yet..."

With the joint effort of Miroku and Inuyasha, they managed to settle Kohaku down a bit, and he was left sobbing quietly against Miroku. The others of the group were far too shocked and worried to do anything, and Kagome was trying to calm Sango down.

And then, as everyone figured the situation could not get any worse, Naraku decided to prove them wrong by stopping by. It was a very sudden entrance, no poisonous miasma, no darkened clouds, and not even a trace of his scent. He just simply walked into the scene, smugly, and stood behind the twins. Everyone quickly noticed his presence, and stood on guard. Inuyasha was already brandishing his Tetsusaiga, knowing that Naraku came for Kohaku. Of course, Inuyasha could not manage against Naraku's barrier.

"Now now, Inuyasha. I simply came to thank this wonderful woman for retrieving the Sacred Jewel shard for me." Naraku's drawl flitted through the group, irritating every last one of the group members. "It's good to know that I can have the shard, and Kohaku at the same time. At least, thanks to your magic."

"There's no way you're gonna get the Jewel shard, Naraku!" Inuyasha stood protectively in front of Kagome and Kohaku, making sure Naraku could not get to her or Sango's brother.

"Is that so, Inuyasha?"

With a smirk, Naraku turned his attention to Kohaku, who had already settled down, lying limp on the ground. "Kohaku! Retrieve the Sacred Jewel shard for me."

Before anyone could react, or say that his efforts were useless, Kohaku bolted from his spot, and lunge for Kagome. He wrenched the shard from her grasp, and Naraku chose that moment to unleash his miasma, and escape to the sky with Sango's brother.

It was all a single movement. The entire group leaped into action, and followed after Naraku. Unfortunately, Lavender felt too tired to follow, so she could not go along, but Rin stayed behind on Sesshomaru's orders, and kept her company.

It was actually quite easy, following Naraku. He did not seem to be in too much of a hurry as he flew to the south. Of course, as always, Naraku had a trick up his sleeve.

"Lord Sesshomaru..." Naraku's voice boomed from the sky. "If I were you, I'd head home to your castle. There seems to be... a disturbance... heh heh heh..."

Lily, while in her orange tigress state, pondered Naraku's words. She slowed down, and concentrated slightly, then she came to an abrupt stop.

"SESSHOMARU!" Her eyes were slightly panicked when she addressed him. "I take it your castle is in the West? Well, I think we should head there straight away... something's up... something powerful..."

------

They were all flying on Inu no Taisho's dog demon back. It was the fastest way for everyone to travel quickly to the far West. Lavender, after hearing the news, quickly settled herself by Inu no Taisho's neck, and cuddled up for a nap hoping it would bring back some of her powers.

Lily, still in her tigress state, was feeling rather tense. They had all been following the mana she could feel emanating from the West, but she had no idea it was at Sesshomaru's castle. Well, she was not even aware of Sesshomaru having a castle. Inuyasha was not aware either; he had angrily asked Sesshomaru why he had never heard of such a castle, and mentally asked himself why he didn't get a share of it.

The mana had doubled, almost tripled while they were busily worrying about Sesshomaru, Lavender, and Kohaku. This, Lily found, was quite scary.

They were travelling very quickly through the afternoon air. Each of Inu no Taisho's passengers were silent, wondering what kind of menace awaited them. Except for Sango, she was thinking of her brother, who had slipped away from her grasp because of Naraku... again.

Because of his size, and the fact that he was travelling through the air, Inu no Taisho showed up at the familiar castle in just a few hours. If one was travelling on foot, it would take a few days to get there, with very short, and few, breaks. The great dog demon landed in front of the massive castle gates, and waited for everyone to get off his back before transforming back to normal.

The castle was grand, situated on top of a very large, rocky mound. The walls of the buildings were a majestic, dark red colour, with black rooftops. On all four corners of the top most rooftop, were statues of dogs protecting the castle. Baileys, all encircling and protecting the castle from intruders, surrounded the entire fortress. The stonewall that encased all of the buildings was built so high, and so far from the castle, that only the dogs from the tip of the seven-story castle could be seen over it.

There was an eerie silence as everyone approached the gates. Rin was sitting on Ah-Un, ready to fly away to safety if anything went wrong. Even Lavender, who needed to be prodded several times to wake her up, was sitting behind Rin with a weak and tired expression on her face. Jaken lead the two-headed dragon behind Sesshomaru.

Lily was clutching to Inu no Taisho. She was still quite nervous about seeing what was behind the walls. The mana was so great now, that she had no clue as to what it could be. Kagome was the spitting image of Lily, who was clinging to Inuyasha's arm, also frightened. Both father and son had their jaws set, ready for anything to come their way.

Shippo was sitting on Miroku's shoulder, knowing that in any case, the best place to be was behind the cursed hand that might be let free on the opponents they were sure to meet. Miroku's left hand was placed on his prayer beads, ready to let his curse destroy his enemies. Sango was just as ready, wearing her pink slayer outfit with her hand firmly grasping her Hiraikotsu. She was not a very happy person. She planned to take out her anger of loosing Kohaku to Naraku by slicing up the distraction the evil hanyou sent them after.

Sesshomaru was the one to approach the gate. He was feeling rather grim at the thought of returning to his castle. He managed to avoid it for two hundred straight years. His servants, if they cared, were probably wondering where he had gone. As soon as Sesshomaru laid his hand on the ring of the gate that was used as a doorknob to pull open the door, a thought occurred to him, and he paused.

Why had he not been at the castle for two hundred years? He hated the memories it brought back. A terrible childhood was the problem. But after his father died, he always worked diligently at the castle, doing all the work lords are meant to do. He may have spent more time outside of the castle rather than in it, but when he was there he was a hard worker just for the sake of his mother. His mother wanted him to be successful, and taught him all the ways of being a lord (and she occasionally used his father as an example of how not to act).

By why did he leave for two hundred years, not worrying about making his mother proud by being a great lord? He would normally never allow himself to admit it, but he never actually thought about it before. He was looking for Lavender. It was a few weeks after Lavender left that he suddenly felt far too lonely, even with Inuyasha around, so he searched for a way to travel across the ocean to get to her. He did not find a way. He tried once, to fly over, but he would get far too tired, and have to turn back.

Sesshomaru thought briefly about how Lavender was sitting safely on Ah-Un's back, and pulled open the door, to his surprise. Inu no Taisho was even confused. The gate was always locked. Sesshomaru had originally planned to tear the gates down, but he did not have to as they silently swung open a few feet.

Everyone crowded around the gate, and peered inside.

There was not a single sound. No signs of movement in any of the little buildings in the baileys, which were also dark red and black (although, they did not look nearly as majestic as the castle). They were the homes of the army. Well, Sesshomaru did not keep an army, when his father was killed he told them all to get out of his sight. Further in, were the homes of his many servants who kept his home clean, and prepared his meals. Right at the base of his castle were the homes of his advisor (who took care of the official business while Sesshomaru was gone), and a few other superiors.

Then, there was a movement. Directly ahead of them, between two buildings, a creature walked from behind the first building to behind the other. The group got a glance of what their enemy was, and saw that it was in the shape of a very large, wild cat, looking very ferocious with its two sabre teeth protruding from its mouth, and sharp black blade located at the tip of its tail.

There was an eerie part of it, and it was how the group could see straight through its purplish, translucent skin, and look at its black bones bending at the joints as it moved. The bones were fairly difficult to see, however, because of its many golden muscles obstructing their view. It certainly seemed like a powerful creature, considering how much gold could be seen in its body.

"That's looks horribly familiar..." Lavender said icily. She did not like the looks of purple lucid skin, and golden muscles. It was far too similar to the Beldoule that attacked her before. That was not a pleasant experience.

"It must... It's gotta be a Felmorte..." Lily watched the gap between the two buildings where they spotted the creature. It did not return, so they all slowly ventured into the castle's courtyard, wary about being caught. "It's a Beldoule evolved. We have to be careful, and just to be safe, we need to take its heart at the first chance we get."

"What? Take its heart?" Miroku gave a quizzical look at Lily. "Why do we need to do that?"

"If anyone of use gets injured by them, we need the heart to cure them of the poison."

"Poison?" muttered Miroku sadly. Poison was always something bad when it came to his Wind Tunnel.

Those with a high sensitivity to smell in the group noticed a very putrid smell originating from the castle. It was the smell of rotting flesh.

They all walked quickly to the source of the stench, (and quietly so as to not grab the attention of the Felmorte) and saw a very horrible scene.

About five people were lying on the ground, extremely limp, and rather odd looking. It was as if the body of the people were filled with water, like a balloon, and were lying on the ground, rotting away. Inuyasha poked the nearest body with his index finger, and cringed when the body waved slightly, as if a ripple ran through it.

"They're completely liquefied..." Sango stated, thoroughly disgusted.

"That's the effect of the poison, it eats away at your muscles until there's nothing left. I suppose it just leaves behind a liquid," Lily explained.

"There's more bodies in the castle too, there's tons of them," Inuyasha gravely informed them.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Lavender said, at precisely the right moment. From all directions, many of the same cat-like creatures appeared from behind various buildings, and trees dotted around the courtyard. Some of the Felmorte were even on top of roofs, and on the castle. There were so many that they could not see the ground, all they could see were the purplish, and golden creatures circling them.

A loud crashing noise could be heard as the head of a dog statue, from the top roof of the castle, came crashing down. After it, landing perfectly on all fours, came the largest of all the Felmorte. It was clearly the leader as it was wearing a necklace around its neck created from the bones of its victims, somewhat like a crown.

**A/N:** So, after many weeks, here it is! Remember, if you guys reply, I'll update faster, for the sake of "Bob".

Hope you guys enjoy. I also didn't mean to leave a cliffy, but I felt so bad for not updating :(...

(For some reason I couldn't get the rulers to work. I got too lazy to try and figure it out, but I'll see what I can do later... Oh, and I'm also aware of the lame chapt title... I'll have that fixed later also, unless someone wants to help me out with a name.)


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